Vietnam, UK foster auditing cooperation
The State Audit Office of Vietnam (SAV) wishes to foster cooperation with the National Audit Office (NAO) of the UK, especially in the fields of specialised auditing, information technology application in auditing activities, and human resources training, stated Auditor General Ngo Van Tuan at his recent meeting with British Comptroller and Auditor General Gareth Davis in London.
At the meeting, part of the SAV delegation’s visit to the UK from October 7-10, Tuan highlighted three key pillars in the SAV’s development strategy until 2030, including human resources training and information technology application in auditing activities, and expressed his hope to promote partnership with NAO in these fields.
He asked for NAO’s increased cooperation and experience sharing in areas of its strengths such as financial audit, performance audit, quick investigation, and external audit of international organisations through conducting high-level visits and exchanging technical expert delegations, sending experts to Vietnam and inviting SAV auditors to the UK, and sharing professional documents and auditing practices.
Tuan also expected that the two sides will continue to support each other at forums of the International Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI) and in cooperation activities between the Asian Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions (ASOSAI) and the European Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions (EUROSAI).
Davies hailed cooperation proposals from the SAV, pledging that he will do his best to implement them. He suggested that the two sides maintain communication channels, exchange information regularly, and coordinate closely in the coming time to consider appropriate support and cooperation programmes.
Following the meeting, the two sides jointly held a seminar to exchange experience on auditing to serve corruption prevention and the enhancement of transparency of national finance.
Within the visit’s framework, the SAV Auditor General had a working session with Chief Executive of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) Helen Brand who affirmed that the association is willing to cooperate with the SAV.
Tuan noted that ACCA has been a trustworthy partner of the SAV since the two sides signed their cooperation agreement in 2009. He underlined that his office wishes to cooperate with the ACCA in developing high quality human resources.
He said he hopes the association, with its strengths in public audit training and new fields, will continue to support the SAV in training and share its experience through organising refresher courses for SAV auditors on risk management, enterprise valuation, climate change impacts, international auditing, and environment, and holding seminars on specialised auditing and application of information technology in auditing activities.
Tuan also expressed his hope that the SAV, which has been elected to the ASOSAI Audit Committee for the 2024-2027 tenure, will receive support from ACCA in auditing international financial funds to fulfil this role.
After the meeting, the two sides organised a seminar to exchange experience in environment and sustainable development auditing.
During his stay, Tuan also had a working session with Auditor General for Wales Adrian Crompton, during which he said that Vietnam hopes to foster cooperation with the Audit Wales to enhance its capacity of organisation and management, improve the quality of auditing activities, contributing to reforming public finance and public administration in Vietnam.
The SAV wishes to strengthen partnership with the Audit Wales in areas of mutual interest, especially areas where the Audit Wales is strong in SAV to learn, said Tuan.
Crompton lauded the proposals from the SAV and suggested that the two sides maintain regular contacts to seek suitable collaboration programmes.
Following the working session, the SAV and the Audit Wales held a seminar to exchange experience in auditing to serve corruption preventing and enhancing the transparency of national finance.
Commenting on the outcomes of the visit, Nguyen Ba Dung, Director of the SAV’s International Cooperation Department, said that it opened up new cooperation opportunities between the SAV and British partners, especially in areas of the UK’s strengths such as international auditing, investigative auditing, climate change response, information technology application, digital transformation, and AI application in auditing activities.
British partners showed their readiness to support the SAV in these areas, he added.
