The Training Institute of State Finance Audit (Badiklat PKN) held a webinar again in preparation for an audit of the management and responsibility of state finances in handling the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on Thursday (01/10). This webinar is an international webinar with the theme “Audit of Covid-19 Response: International Experience”.
BPK Vice Chairman Dr. Agus Joko Pramono, S.ST., M.Acc., Ak., CA., CPA, CSFA, was present to open as well as become the keynote speaker at this event. Starting the event, he revealed that BPK had a role in responding to the handling of the Covid-19 pandemic. BPK implemented a risk-based comprehensive audit strategy on the Covid-19 Pandemic. BPK strives to continue to develop insights in auditing the handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, developing a universe audit, and implementing policy and strategy audit.
The resource persons for this webinar were different from the previous webinars, because they came from Supreme Audit Institutions (SAI) other countries, namely Jane Meade and Rahul Tejani from the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO), Keerti Tewari from the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG), Jan Hendrik Van Schalkwyk and Linda Le Roux from Auditor-General of South Africa (AGSA), R. Yudi Ramdan Budiman from INTOSAI Development Initiative (IDI), and Piotr Miklis from Najwyższa Izba Kontroli (NIK) Poland. Moderated by the Principal Auditor for State Finance I Novy Gregory Antonius Palenkahu, MBA., Ak., CPA., CFrA., CA., CSFA, the speakers gave a presentation regarding the experiences made by SAI in conducting audits to support the handling of the Covid-19 pandemic in their countries.
The audit of Covid-19 Handling is a form of SAI’s participation as an external auditor, in helping the Government to maintain accountability and transparency in the management of state finances. The resource persons argued that SAI should be more flexible, careful, and more communicative in establishing cooperative relationships with their entities, in order to facilitate the implementation of audit duties, especially due to incomplete guidelines or legal / regulatory instruments related to current conditions. SAI may also refer to the ISSAI 5500 series and other materials provided by IDI on its website, in response to audit requirements.
The webinar was attended by 788 participants consists of the Senior Officials, Junior Officials, Administrator Officials, BPK Auditors, and the Working Group of Auditing the Handling of Covid-19 Pandemic, was also attended by ASEANSAI members such as SAI Brunei Darussalam, LAO PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
After participating in this webinar, it is hoped that it can provide additional insight into auditing standards and strategies during a pandemic based on the experience of auditing the handling of Covid-19 that has been/is/will be carried out by SAI other countries, so that it can broaden BPK’s insight in conducting all audit stages properly from planning to reporting, keeping in mind the risks and challenges that may be faced.