Nguyễn Tuấn Anh, Deputy Auditor General of the State Audit Office of Việt Nam. — VNA/VNA Photo

Nguyễn Tuấn Anh, Deputy Auditor General of the State Audit Office of Việt Nam (SAV), talks to Vietnam News Agency about the results of the implementation of the sector’s development strategy for the period 2010-20 and the deployment plan for the next decade

Could you tell about the outstanding results in the implementation of the State Audit Development Strategy for the period 2010-20?

The 2013 Constitution adds article 118, clearly regulating the legal status of the State Audit Office and the Auditor General. Based on that, the National Assembly had approved the Law on State Audit in 2015 and the revised Law on State Audit in 2019 with new contents, creating a legal basis for the development of the State Audit Office, thereby, improving the effectiveness of audit activities in order to serve the country’s renovation and building the rule-of-law socialist state in a new period.

The structure of the State Audit Office has been developed comprehensively in terms of quantity and quality and it is gradually becoming synchronisation. The office pays more attention to training and improving human resources and accelerating the application of information technology. Auditing activities are gradually renovated in terms of content and method. The auditing quality has been constantly improved from the planning stage to implementation.

The office has developed auditing of some new fields, including information technology audit; environmental audit, natural resource audit; Build-Operate-Transfer, Build-Transfer project audit as well as auditing a number of major topics on land, education and health.

The office's recommendations on financial handling, including withdrawing and reducing State budget expenditures as well as recommendations on amending many policies such as the Law on State Budget, the Land Law and the Law on Tax Management, have steadily increased in recent years.

Since 2018, the office has provided 187 audit reports and related documents for the State agencies to serve investigation, supervision and legal proceedings, transferring many cases to the police for criminal investigation.

The office has actively integrated and sought international co-operation both bilaterally and multilaterally; organised audits in collaboration with the Supreme Audit agencies around the world and sent more auditors to participate in training courses abroad to access global audit criteria to improve their capacity.

It successfully organised the 14th Asian Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions (ASOSAI) Meeting with the theme “Environmental Audit for Sustainable Development” in 2018 and it was selected ASOSAI President for the term of 2018-21. This is an outstanding event of the sector, making a significant contribution to the enhancement of the State Audit’s status in the country.

What is the deployment plan of the State Audit in the future and how is the office preparing for auditing in 2020?

The revised law will come into effect on July 1, 2020. The office has scheduled to implement it with three major tasks.

Firstly, we have disseminated the basic content of the law both inside and outside the sector. Secondly, we have issued legal guiding documents to operate the law for relevant agencies. Lastly, we have reviewed regulations under the law related to the functions and tasks of units of the State Audit Office.

To prepare for auditing activities this year, the agency has strengthened collecting detailed information and running software applications to support auditing activities. The agency also tightens inspection to monitor the quality of auditor teams and will punish any individuals having signs of violations.

Especially, the expectation of the Party, National Assembly, Government and the people for the office in the fight against corruption is very high. It means the role of the office has been constantly improved.

Based on the development and reputation of the State Audit Office, together with the experience of the auditor team, who already audited many large and complex State budget-funded projects and units, we will make efforts to ensure the quality of auditing activities this year, contributing to the fight against corruption.

What are the State Audit Office’s main activities as the President of the Asian Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions (ASOSAI) for the term of 2018-21?

The office will focus on fulfilling its role as the ASOSAI president for the term of 2018-21, consolidating and strengthening co-operative relationships with foreign auditing agencies that have their own strengths in specific areas the office wants to learn from as well as effectively implementing foreign-funded projects.

As the president of ASOSAI, the office will carefully prepare to successfully organise the 55th ASOSAI Executive Board in March 2020 in Bangladesh, co-operating with the Secretary General of ASOSAI, the core group managing the ASOSAI strategic plan, the chairman of the ASOSAI Working Group of Environmental Auditing (WGEA) and ASOSAI members to carry out the ASOSAI Strategic Plan 2020.

The office will also participate in meetings and seminars of ASOSAI WGEA and host the 3rd Meeting of ASOSAI 12th Research Project on auditing of sustainable development goals and a meeting in the framework of ASOSAI Co-operative Audit on environmental audit in ASEANSAI.

The office plans to work with Thailand – ASOSAI President for the term of 2021-24 to successfully organise the ASOSAI 15. At the same time, it also disseminates to improve the status of the State Audit of Việt Nam in the international arena. — VNS