Video transcript: Global Audit Leadership Forum 2015
Title: Office of the Auditor-General logo
Title: Global Audit Leadership Forum 2015 logo
[Forum attendees are welcomed by the Auditor-General, Lyn Provost, and her staff.]
[Forum attendees are welcomed to a pōwhiri.]
[Montage of speakers at the forum and the pōwhiri.]
Office of the Auditor-General’s Waiata group (singing):
Ruia ruia... toru whā.
Ruia taitea, kia tu ko taikaka anake
Ruia taitea, kia tu ko taikaka anake
Anei ra matou o Te Mana Arotake
E whakatau tika te huarahi
Mo te Paremata e
Anei ra matou o Te Mana Arotake
E whakatau tika te huarahi
Mo te tangata e
Ruia taitea, kia tu ko taikaka anake
Ruia taitea, kia tu ko taikaka anake
Ko te mahi tuturu
Kia u te kawanatanga
ki te tika, te pono
Mo te iwi whanui e
Ko te mahi tuturu
Kia u te kawanatanga
ki te tika, te pono
Mo te iwi whanui e
Title: In 2015, New Zealand hosted the Global Audit Leadership Forum
Lyn Provost (Auditor-General, New Zealand):
I always look forward to the Global Audit Leaders Forum. It’s one of the most intellectually stimulating forums I go to every year. And being the host, has been such a privilege.
Title: What can your nation bring to the global audit community?
Claes Norgren (Auditor-General, Sweden):
Well, we hope to be able to share experiences that can be valuable to others and also foremost to learn from others. I think that GALF is a very important forum to really discuss issues that can be helpful not only for the one institution you represent but also this sharing of knowledge and lessons learned I think that’s very, very important.
Saskia Stuiveling (President, Netherlands Court of Audit):
We are from all over the world and we all have different experiences, so I bring my own experience, but I learn more than I bring. Because there are more colleagues and you hear from them all kind of nice examples and nice thoughts, and also uncertainties about the future. And that’s even more important, that you share your uncertainties with your colleagues.
Title: What does New Zealand bring to the table as a global partner?
Lyn:
New Zealand is a well-respected supreme audit institution. And in many ways, we have been a world leader in public and financial management particularly in accrual accounting, and also in standard-setting.
Josef Moser (President, Austrian Court of Audit):
I think New Zealand as a supreme audit institution, especially the Auditor-General of New Zealand, Lyn Provost, she is a best practice example with her supreme audit institution because she’s very active and she’s really living the model of INTOSAI. Mutual experience benefits all and the GALF meeting has the special focus to bring together the experiences around the world and to find out what is the future of public accounting in the next 20 to 30 years.
Saskia:
Well first of all New Zealand brings hospitality. And really wonderful, and also they bring a low formality. Low formality is very needed when you’re talking about the future, uncertainties, ideas. Low formality means that you really share ideas.
Claes:
Well having had the pleasure to be here in Wellington I know that they have been offering very good hospitality but also in terms of offering a forum for expertise and learning I think that has been very helpful. I think that they have injected energy in this meeting and I’m sure that looking ahead that this will be important.
Title: What does the auditor of tomorrow need that the auditor of today does not have?
Claes:
I think that the notion of "the auditor 2030", to me that emerged in the discussions here that, if you translate that on an individual level that the skills and the competencies within the audit office would be more diverse. Since we have a very broad mandate, we need to put together not only traditional auditors but also people in a broad perspective that have different scientific knowledges and other experiences.
Josef:
I think we have to have in our mind that we are responsible not only for the special audit we are responsible that we do our audit always in line that it must be a part, a piece for sustainable development therefore also we need to professionalisation and we need not only on the one hand a specialisation of the auditors but we must give and bring the specialisation inside the global context to say what is the best form to use the money. And also in the past when we look as an auditor what he did only his duty to present to finalise a report but he must also be a consultant, he must convince the government, the publicans on that it’s useful for them for efficiency and effectiveness to implement the recommendations.
Lyn:
Fundamental to any auditor is independence and integrity. And I don’t see that changing. Equally, I don’t see a commitment to accountability and transparency changing. What I do see changing is maybe the work ethic, the younger people we spoke to certainly saw that leisure should take a more extensive part of their future. We also have talked in the last couple of days about the “digi-native”. What that “digi-native” is doing in 15 years’ time is definitely speculative but there’s no doubt that their technical skills will be different, greater, and unimaginable at this point and time.
Saskia:
Open-minded and just simple intelligence.
Lyn:
To have people from 14 countries, around a table, talking about public auditing into the future and the challenges that face developed size has been an utter honour and I have been impressed and delighted by both the standard of papers and the standard of debate around the table.
Waiata group (singing):
[The Office waiata group performing at the pōwhiri.]
Ruia taitea, kia tu ko taikaka anake
Ruia taitea, kia tu ko taikaka anake
Ruia taitea, kia tu ko taikaka anake
Ruia taitea, kia tu ko taikaka anake
Title: [English translation of waiata lyrics]
Te Mana Arotake
Cast away the sapwood but let the heart remain.
Here we are –
the Office of the Auditor-General
seeking accountability
on behalf of Parliament; on behalf of the people.
Our main purpose
is that the government maintains
its integrity and honesty
for all people.
Title: Office of the Auditor-General logo