December 31, 2009: With the successful completion of the initial implementation stage of the Online Audit clearance System, the Royal Audit authority will formally inaugurate the Online Audit Clearance System on 1st January 2010 by the Hon’ble Minister Lyonpo Nandalal Rai.

The Online Audit Clearance System was developed in collaboration with Department of Information Technology as a part of its effort to uplift the service delivery system.  The online system is user-friendly and aimed at speedy delivery of audit clearance certificates.

Users can avail the services at http://auditclearance.bhutanaudit.gov.bt.

                                        OR       http://202.144.155.70

November 13, 2009: The fourth Regional Office, the Office of the Assistant General (OAAG) West, Phuentsholing, of the Royal Audit Authority (RAA) will be inaugurated on 16th November 2009 by the Hon'ble Finance Minister, Lyonpo Wangdi Norbu.

The OAAG, West will be responsible to audit and report on the Dzongkhag Administrations - Phuentsholing, Chukha and few agencies under Dzongkhag Administration Samtse.

The main aim to open regional offices is to cater the needs of the public by stationing audit office closer to stakeholders particularly to issue audit clearances as and when they required. This will also reduce travel cost of audit to a great extent.

October 19, 2009: The third and the last phase of the tailored-made-training programme on ‘Quality Assurance in Audit’ will convene from 26th October 2009 at the Royal Audit Authority conference hall. Twenty audit officers will continue to participate in this training. The programme was bifurcated into three phases. The first phase was held in Thimphu while second phase was held in Saxion University, the Netherlands.

It is the first training programme that will be completing this month under the Multi-Year Agreement (MYA) signed between the Royal Audit Authority and the Netherlands Organization for International Cooperation in Higher Education (NUFFIC) in 2008.

October 7, 2009: The Auditor General of Bhutan will be leading a three member delegation to attend the 11^th Assembly of the Asian Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (ASOSAI) in Islamabad, Pakistan. The ASOSAI is an association of supreme audit institutions of 45 Asian countries. The Auditor General is one of the panelists for the 4^th ASOSAI Symposium and is expected to deliver a presentation on the role of the Royal Audit Authority in enhancing effectiveness of public expenditure.

RAA launches Online application of Audit Clearance Certificate

6th October, 2009: In line with the policy of the Royal Government of Bhutan, the Royal Audit Authority in collaboration with the Department of Information and Technology will be launching online application of Audit Clearance Certificate as a part of its effort to uplift its service delivery system. The online application of Audit Clearance Certificate is a web based system and can be accessed by the officials from the Human Resources Division (HRD) and Administration & Finance Division (AFD) of the applying agencies.

During the initial implementation stages, the service will be available only to selected agencies. During the first phase, the service will be catered to the officials of the Ministry of Information and Communications (MoIC) followed by Bhutan Power Corporation Limited and Trashiyangtse Dzongkhag in the second and third phases. The service will be made available to all other agencies with effect from 1^st Jan, 2010.

The online application of Audit Clearance Certificate is introduced to curtail the procedures involved in obtaining the certificates especially by officials working in places away from Thimphu. The system will therefore reduce administrative burden in terms of cost and time spent in processing audit clearance certificates. Besides, the system will also helps in informing the concerned officials the reasons for rejecting their forms instantly.

The RAA issues Audit Clearance Certificate for promotion, training, study tour, higher studies, workshop/seminars, retirement benefits, extension of contract services, service regularization, processing secondment, election and re-election. More than 10,000 Audit Clearance Certificates are being issued annually of which, about 85% of the Audit Clearance Certificates constitute for promotion and trainings only.

Visit of the Comptroller & Auditor General of India to Bhutan

September 11, 2009: His Excellency the Comptroller & Auditor General (C&AG) of India Shri Vinod Rai will be in the Kingdom of Bhutan from 14 to 17 September 2009 leading a four member delegation on a goodwill visit.

On the morning of 15 September 2009, the C&AG will be visiting the RAA complex and will deliver a talk on; “Relationship between Public Accounts Committee and Supreme Audit Institutions – an Indian perspective” to the members of the Public Accounts Committee and the RAA Officials.

On the same day, he will receive an audience from His Majesty the King of Bhutan. He will also call on the Hon’ble Prime Minister of Bhutan.

During rest of the days, the C&AG and the delegates will be visiting places of historical importance in and around Thimphu and Paro.

This is the fourth visit made by the successive C&AG of India and the first since Bhutan adopted Constitutional Democracy. The relationship between the Office of the Comptroller & Auditor General of India and Royal Audit Authority had been strengthened with the signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in 2001.

The MOU was signed to strengthen the existing friendly relations and bilateral co-operations aimed at improving the work methodologies and exchange of information in the field of public audit. Under the MOU, two Audit Officers are trained every year in the prestigious Academy of Indian Audit and Accounts Services in Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, besides deputing senior resource persons from the Office of the C&AG of India once in a year to train auditors in Bhutan. The MOU was renewed in 2007 for another six years.

The visit made by the C&AG is yet another step to further strengthen the relationship between the two Supreme Audit Institutions.
 

Training of Trainer (ToT) Course Completed

September 8, 2009: A six day tailored-made training course on Training of Trainer (ToT) for ten In-House training resource persons from the Royal Audit Authority was convened from 26^th August to 2^nd September 2009. This training was aimed at effective designing, development and delivery of various training courses. The adult learning principles was intensively covered besides presentation and communications skills.

For the year 2009-2010, as of now two in-house training courses on Interpretation of Financial Statements and Introduction to Audit Criteria for auditor at position level two and three have been completed.
 

12th Annual Audit Conference

July 30, 2009: The 12th Annual Audit Conference on the theme ‘RAA’s Approach towards Balanced Reporting’ will be convened from 3rd to 5th August 2009 at the Royal Banquet Hall, Thimphu.  Hundred and sixty-five auditors including seventeen internal auditors from various Ministries will attend the Conference. The opening ceremony will be graced by the Hon’ble Tshogpon of Bhutan. As usual, twelve fresh officers who have joined service in the RAA will take Oath of good conduct, ethics and secrecy from the Venerable Dorji Lopen from Zhung Dratshang during the opening ceremony.

The three day conference will witness the release of the Auditing Standard, Quality Assurance Handbook, Information Disclosure Policy documents and Annual Audit Plan and Schedule 2009-2010.  The agenda of the conference also includes beside others the presentation and deliberations on:  Financial Audit Manual, Local Governance Act, Auditing Standards, Follow-Up- Guidelines, implementation of Quality Assurance Handbook, amendments on Procurement Manual, and General Auditing Instructions.

The conference theme paper – RAA’s approach towards Balanced Reporting will also be presented and discussed to finalize strategies for immediate implementation.

The Conference is funded by the UNDP Project.
 

HANDBOOK ON QUALITY ASSURANCE REVIEW PROCESS

July 8, 2009: A quality assurance system is an organisational framework that provides independent assurance to the head of the agencies on the quality control system and practices. It is a process to determine whether the needed quality controls are in place or the existing controls are implemented adequately. It also identifies the potential ways of strengthening or otherwise improving the quality controls. Thus recognising this importance, the Royal Audit Authority instituted a Quality Assurance & Research Unit in its organisational structure in July 2006.

A core group of three officials were trained on the subject through the assistance of the ASOSAI and the INTOSAI Development Initiatives. The Unit spearheaded the formulation of a Handbook to guide the periodic quality assurance review process. The handbook takes into account the experiences and expertise of other Supreme Audit Institutions and was largely prepared in line with the INTOSAI and International Standards on Auditing and the Auditing Standards developed by the Royal Audit Authority. The exposure draft has been circulated to various prominent stakeholders for further consultation and discussions.

We would be glad to receive any comments, suggestions or feedback on the handbook. Click here to download a copy of the Handbook (exposure draft).

Please transmit your comments to:

Mr. Jamtsho, Chief Audit Officer
Email: jamtsho_ppd@bhutanaudit.gov.bt
Phone:324960, Fax: 334426
 

9^th Indo-Bhutan Audit Training: Risk Based Financial Audit

The 9^th Indo-Bhutan Audit Training on ‘Risk Based Financial Audit’ will convene from 15^th June 2009 for a period of one week at Nazhen Pelri, Thimphu. This training is in continuation of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed between the Royal Audit Authority and the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) of India in 2007.

Two senior level Officers, Mrs. Vani Sriram, Principal Director and Mr. B.K Mukherjee, Senior Deputy Accountant General from the Office of the C&AG, India are the resource persons for the above course.

Thirty-five to forty participants including eight internal auditors from various Ministries and Royal Bhutan Police will attend the course.
 

RAA begins follow-up of audit reports issued up to 2006

In line with the resolution of the 2^nd Session of the 1^st Parliament and as per the Audit Act of Bhutan 2006 the Royal Audit Authority (RAA) led by the Auditor General of Bhutan beginning 2^nd of March, 2009 has started to follow-up on all the pending audit reports issued up to 2006.

The Follow-up meetings with Head of the agencies having pending audit reports are currently being convened. The meeting is expected to deliberate on actions initiated by audit agencies as required/recommended in the audit reports as well as review the appropriateness of testimonial or any other evidences made available.

The Auditor General accompanied by senior officials is currently conducting series of meetings with head of agencies based in Phunstholing region.

After the completion of such meetings with all agencies a status report as required by the Parliament will be compiled and submitted to the ensuing 3rd session of the 1^st Parliament.
 

RAA host ASOSAI Instructional Techniques Workshop

February 11, 2009: The Royal Audit Authority will host the Asian Organization of Supreme Audit Institution (ASOSAI) Instructors re-design meeting on 'Instructional techniques workshop' in Thimphu from 1-14 March 2009. Six ASOSAI certified Instructors including one subject matter expert from INTOSAI Development Initiatives (IDI) will attend the workshop. The instructors are from India, Indonesia, China, and Philippines. The course developed in this workshop will be delivered in China for the up coming forty new ASOSAI facilitators sometime in May 2009.
 

Draft Follow Up Guidelines

The Audit Act of Bhutan 2006 and Auditing Standards mandate the Royal Audit Authority with full organizational and functional independence. It also empowers the Royal Audit Authority to develop rules, procedures and guidelines to carry out its Functions economically, efficiently and effectively. In line with these provisions, the Royal Audit Authority has developed the Guidelines on Follow-up of Audit Reports.

The objective of this Guideline is to foster a sense of responsibility and accountability by specifying clear roles and responsibilities at all levels. This would also educate all users involved in review of Audit Reports at various level thereby promoting uniformity, consistency and transparency.

Posted for your valuable comments and opinion, please send your Comments/ opinion latest by 5th June 2009 to sherap@bhutanaudit.gov.bt  or to bazaguru@yahoo.com

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New Recruits 2009

January 6, 2009: Four officers joined the RAA with effect from 1^st January 2009 on successful completion of the course-Post Graduate Diploma in Financial Management (PGDFM) from the Royal Institute of Management. As usual, four of them along with four new recruits in July 2008 will be attending induction course from today 6^th January 2009 at the RAA Conference Hall till 14^th January 2009. The induction course covers the following topics:

The main objective of this program is to introduce them with the RAA working system.