Union Minister of Finance Shri Arun Jaitley will address the 23rd Conference of Auditors General of Commonwealth Countries and British Overseas Territories tomorrow

India is hosting this prestigious conference for the first time; 24 heads of Supreme Audit Institutions (SAI) to participate

Theme of the conference is “Fostering Partnerships for Capacity Development in Public Audit”

The Union Minister of Finance, Defence and Corporate Affairs Shri Arun Jaitley will address the 23rd Conference of Auditors General of Commonwealth nations and 9 British Overseas Territories in New Delhi tomorrow, i.e., 22nd March 2017. The Comptroller & Auditor General of India (CAG) is going to host the Conference which is scheduled to be held from 21-23 March, 2017 at New Delhi. This is the first time India is hosting this prestigious conference.

The conference will have the main theme of “Fostering Partnerships for Capacity Development in Public Audit” with the following two sub-themes:

1.  Leveraging Technology in Public Audit, and

2.  Environment Audit: A Commonwealth Perspective.

The two sub-theme discussions will be led by Auditors General of Tanzania and Canada.

The Conference will be attended by 52 Commonwealth Countries and 9 British Overseas Territories. While some of these countries feature in most developed countries of the world, there are several which belong to Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and Small Island Developing States (SIDS). The auditing organizations in these countries come together every three years to discuss the major challenges before them. The last such conference was held in Malta in 2014. About 80 delegates from 37 countries are expected to participate in the conference. Among the guests there will be 24 heads of Supreme Audit Institutions (SAI).

The CAG of India is a pioneering SAI in the field of Data Analytics and use of technology in Public Auditing. The CAG also heads the International Working Group on Information System Audits and provides technical assistance to various audit institutions of other countries in use of technology and conducting IT audits. Similarly on Environment related subjects, several CAG reports on Water Pollution, Waste Management, Renewable Energy and Compensatory Afforestation have been lauded nationally and internationally. On both these aspects, Information Technology and Environment Audits – the CAG of India has its own International Training Centers at Noida and Jaipur respectively where auditors from all over the world are trained in specialized aspects of Public Auditing.

Capacity development in public audit promotes international partnerships, technology-driven audits and strengthened environment-focused oversight. Fostering international partnerships to strengthen public audit capacity is the central objective, focusing on adoption of technology and data analytics in audit practice and advancing environment audit perspectives. Capacity building mechanisms include thematic sessions on Leveraging Technology in Public Audit and Environment Audit led by peer SAIs, technical assistance on information system audits, and specialised international training centres for disseminating these competencies.