For further understanding of public contract, including its knowledge and spirit of law among international society, the Commission of Audit (CA) particularly invited the Deputy Director of General Affairs Department of Portuguese Court of Auditors, Márcia Vala, to give its staff a course, from 15 to 18 March, on the topic of public contract, which detailed the measures and ways of monitoring the conclusion of public contract, and had an in-depth discussion on the types and features of contracts in different parts of the world. There were 52 participants in this course. Besides CA staff, the relevant staff from the Legislative Assembly, the Legal Affairs Bureau and the Financial Service Bureau were invited to attend the course. Participants from different departments shared the Portuguese experience and practices in public contract together for striving to organize their thoughts and lay down the direction in facilitating and refining the related work, with a view to maintaining the interests of government.

The Association of Members of Brazil’s Courts of Audit (Associação dos Membros dos Tribunais de Contas do Brasil) held the 28^th Assembly of Brazil’s Courts of Audit in the city of Recife last week. The Commissioner of Audit of Macau SAR (CA), Ho Veng On, and the member’s representatives of Supreme Audit Institutions of Portuguese Speaking Countries, such as Cape Verde’s Audit Court, Guinea-Bissau’s Audit Court, Mozambique’s Administrative Court and Sao Tome and Principe’s Audit Court were invited to attend the conference. With the theme of “Public governance and anti-corruption: social expectation for audit court”, the conference explored the huge challenges of governing the public sectors and of fighting against corruption in a global situation facing severe and alarming crises in moral, politics and economy.

The Commission of Audit (CA), in order to further fulfill the government guiding policy for constructing e-government and strengthening audit techniques, particularly invited the Deputy Directors of Electronic Data Audit Department and Monetary Audit Department of China National Audit Office (CNAO), Ms. Qin Ye and Ms. Li Xiaopeng, to give CA relevant staff lectures on theoretical knowledge and to share practical experience on two topics: the Electronic Data Audit Department’s operation, and the risk setting and management of government investment fund (finance), from 30 November to 1 December.

The Commission of Audit of Macau SAR (CA), in order to strengthen the specialist knowledge of its staff, allied with the Macau Society of Registered Auditors to organize the professional courses and gained a great effect last year. On 13 and 17 November 2015, they jointly held the workshop of “Network Security and Management of Risk and Crisis” again and invited Hong Kong network security professionals, Mr. Kok Tin Gan and Mr. Felix Kan, as well as the corporate risk management professional, Mr. John So, to deliver lectures on theories and knowledge of network security, risk management and crisis management. A total of 51 CA staff participated in the 2 days course.

“Performance Audit Forum between Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau—2015”, which organized by the Audit Office of Guangdong Province, was held in Zhuhai of Guangdong Province from 10 to 12 September. The Director of Audit Bureau, Neoh Hwai Beng, the auditor, Wong Kin Fai and the senior officer, Hoi Chi Kong, attended the forum as the representatives of Commission of Audit of Macau SAR.

Jointly organized by China Society of Audit and the Accounting Department of Taiwan Chengchi University, “Seminar on Audit Theory and Practice on the Two Sides of the Strait and in Hong Kong and Macau— 2015”was held in Taiwan in mid-August. Commission of Audit (CA) has sent delegates to take part in the event for six consecutive years and delivered special report in the seminar.

In order to strengthen the contact with Guangdong audit counterparts, the Commissioner of Audit, Ho Veng On, led the delegation of the Commission of Audit (CA) to Guangzhou on 22 July, and met with the Director General of the Audit Office of Guangdong Province (AOGP), Ms. He Lijuan. Both sides exchanged the views of the management and technology in government auditing, and discussed the development plans for cooperation between Guangdong and Macau in personnel training.

The Commission of Audit of Macau SAR (CA), as an observer, participated in the seminar of the Supreme Audit Institutions of the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (OISC/CPLP) held in the capital of Mozambique, Maputo, on 15 and 16 June 2015. The seminar theme this year was “Application of SAI – PMF: Concepts, benefits and challenges”.

In order to strengthen the skills of application of computer aided audit of the officers of Commission of Audit of Macau SAR (CA), CA and the Court of Auditors of Portugal jointly carried out a series of training course. Following CA’s officers participation in the training activity, which shared experiences with Portugal’s Court of Auditors and the European Union audit counterparts in promoting efficiency and effectiveness of audit by the application of information system and software in Portugal at the beginning of the year, CA invited Mr. João Carlos Cardoso, director of information system and technology department of the Court of Auditors of Portugal, to deliver the relevant skills from 8 to 11 June.

As per invited by the president of the Court of Auditors of Portugal, Guilherme d'Oliveira Martins, the Commissioner of Audit of Macau SAR, Ho Veng On visited Lisbon and Azores last week, to discuss the issues relating to the routinization of the professional training courses. This is the first visit of Ho Veng On to the Court of Auditors of Portugal since he served as the Commissioner of Audit.

The 13th Assembly of the Asian Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (ASOSAI) was held from 9 to 13 February in Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia. The prime minister of Malaysia, Najib Razak, attended the opening ceremony and made a speech. The Deputy Auditor General of China National Audit Office (CNAO), Sun Baohou, led the Chinese delegation and on behalf of the Auditor General, Liu Jiayi, also made a speech at the opening ceremony. The Commissioner of Audit of Macau (CA), Ho Weng On, participated in the Assembly as a member of the Chinese delegation.

In order to promote computer aided auditing within the Commission of Audit (CA) and learning how Portugal’s Court of Auditors and other European audit counterparts promoted efficiency and effectiveness in their auditing activities through the application of information technologies, CA arranged a special training activity for its officers, which took place from 30 January to 9 February at Portugal’s Court of Auditors, in Lisbon, Portugal. Experts from the Court of Auditors conducted thematic lectures and workshops on computer aided audit and information systems security.