The Covid-19 pandemic that occurred in Indonesia prompted the Government to implement a large-scale social restriction (PSBB) policy to suppress the growth rate of new positive cases. This policy has weakened the social and economic life of the community, especially for the lower class people who work in the informal sector, such as micro, small and medium enterprises. To overcome this, the Government has made various efforts to sustain the life of the community. One of the programs that has been prepared is the Social Safety Net program to deal with the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, so that people can meet their basic daily needs.
To be able to provide more in-depth information and as a sharing forum related to the issue of social safety nets from the BPK leadership, in the Home of Knowledge event this time, the Training Institute of State Finance Audit presented the Head of State Finance Audit III of BPK RI Dr. Achsanul Qosasi, CSFA., as a resource person to give a presentation with the theme Social Safety Nets in Handling Covid-19. The event moderated by the General Director of State Finance Auditorate III, Prof. Dr. Bambang Pamungkas, CSFA., discussed in more depth the Schemes, Risks and Mitigations as well as BPK Audit Policies and Strategies in the social safety net.
In his presentation, the Head of State Finance Audit III of BPK revealed that the Government has allocated a budget for the implementation of the social safety net program, so that BPK has an obligation to conduct an audit of this activity. The programs that have been designed by the government consist of: Family Hope Program (PKH), Cash For Work (PKT), Direct Cash Assistance (BLT), Basic Food Cards, Pre-Employment Cards, electricity subsidies for certain groups, and special social assistance for the Jabodetabek region. Achsanul Qosasi revealed that in the implementation of these programs, BPK will conduct an audit of the effectiveness of the pre-employment card program implementation, the distribution of social assistance carried out both at the central and regional levels has been received by people in need, and the provision of electricity subsidies has been running right on target. This is also to minimize the risk of irregularities that may occur in the handling of the Covid-19 pandemic by state officials.
“Social protection is the government’s obligation to the people, how the government carries out its obligations so that the people who receive it are right on target, so we need to convince the public regarding the funding that has been done by the government has gone well”, said Achsanul Qosasi in his presentation. For this reason, BPK is currently preparing an audit strategy for the management and responsibility of state finance in handling Covid-19, which consists of financial audit, performance audit, and specific purposes audit. The audit carried out by BPK regarding the Social Safety Net for Handling Covid-19 is planned for the second semester of 2020 on a thematic basis, namely involving all the Principle Auditorates for State Finance (AKN) in BPK, both central and regional and coordinated by AKN III.
BPK audits in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic will certainly face various challenges. For this reason, the Head of State Finance Audit III of BPK advises all auditors who will perform the audit task to be able to apply an audit method that allows sufficient evidence to be obtained without sacrificing health factors, optimizing the use of information and communication technology, and always obeying health protocols when carrying out audit procedures that are require a physical encounter. In addition, in carrying out audit tasks, it must always be based on the State Financial Audit Standards (SPKN), including the principles of auditing state finance regulated therein.
The Home of Knowledge Workshop which is routinely held by the Training Institute every week using the distance learning method is attended by 278 participants consisting of Middle Level Officials, Primary Level Officials, Administrator Officials, Top Level Auditors, and Middle Level Auditors. This activity is also a form of the Training Institute’s commitment in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, to continue to fulfill employee competency development by raising themes that are updated and relevant to current conditions. Ending the workshop, the Head of State Finance Audit III of BPK hopes that the attendees can gain knowledge about the implementation of social safety nets and can become provisions in the implementation of future audit tasks.
