The State Audit Board was elected to be the external auditor for the International Maritime Organization (IMO) for the 2020-2023 period which includes audit of the financial statements of the World Maritime University (WMU) and the International Maritime Law Institute (IMLI). To provide competence provisions, understanding of international audit, and international communication skills for the audit team in assignments, the BPK Training Institute organized education and training for the IMO Audit Team which was held on 14-18 September 2020 using the distance learning method which was attended by 16 functional audit officials (PFP).
BPK has maintained long good relations and cooperation with the international community. The development of international cooperation has increased with the active involvement of BPK in several Supreme Audit Institutions (SAI) organizations, such as INTOSAI, ASOSAI, ASEANSAI, and IDI. “BPK’s involvement in international activities and BPK’s participation in the audit of international organizations is very important for BPK in increasing its capacity as an audit institution,” said the Vice Chairman of BPK, Dr. Agus Joko Pramono, CSFA in a virtual briefing that was delivered to the IMO Audit Team.
BPK’s participation in auditing international organizations is also one of BPK’s efforts to play an active role in the international community and it will increase world confidence in Indonesia and BPK. Furthermore, the Vice Chairman of BPK also delivered materials about BPK International Engagement, Issues in Audits of UN Organizations, BPK as the External Auditor of IMO, Expectations and Preparation. For this reason, it is important for the audit team to have an in-depth understanding of international standards in auditing and accounting for the public sector, international organizations, applicable systems, and issues that arise in international organizations.
The Secretary General of BPK, Bahtiar Arif, CSFA as the Person in Charge of the IMO Audit Team, was present also at the opening of this training. He conveyed the stages that were taken in preparation for the implementation of the audit task as well as the follow-up that would be carried out after the implementation of the training. The follow-up actions included conducting a preliminary assessment at the end of September til end of October 2020, followed by an interim audit in November 2020, and planning of a detailed audit in December 2020 til January 2021. Implementation of the preliminary assessment, interim audit, and detailed audit planning will be carried out in Jakarta by utilizing information technology to communicate with the IMO-WMU-IMLI Secretariat virtually and conduct remote audits with access granted by the IMO-WMU-IMLI Secretariat to the system used.
By participating in this training, it is hoped that the IMO Audit Team will understand international accounting and auditing standards, business organizations and processes, as well as IMO, WMU, and IMLI accounting and financial reporting systems. This training is also a media for sharing between the speakers and the participants regarding the experience of auditing the international agency IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) and auditing the UN organization (United Nations). With good preparation, it is hoped that the BPK audit will be more qualified and beneficial to IMO and other organizations.