In order to keep up with the development of the audit activity of the Commission of Audit (CA), namely in the area of recurrent audit, the Assistant Commissioner Kou Chin Pang departed on 25 July, with a seven-member team, for an exchange visit to Shenzhen Audit Bureau, whom is entrusted with the duty of auditing the metro system of that city.

Recurrent audit verifies the truthfulness, the legal compliance and the effectiveness of the management of a project during its preliminary, execution and final phases. This approach enables the audit institution and its staff to present suggestions to the executing department in time to increase the effectiveness, efficiency and economy of the project. CA began preparing for and eventually engaged in recurrent audit projects last year. Since then, besides carrying out the programmed audit works, CA has been searching for ways to consolidate and to improve skills and methods in conducting recurrent audit. The present visit has been agreed upon in June, during the “Seminar on Audit in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau”. Since Macau and Shenzhen are conducting recurrent audits on similar projects, both sides met after the seminar and agreed to hold this visit, which would also be a step further to enhance mutual communication and development. The contacts held during the four days of the visit enabled CA’s staff to have a systematic and comprehensive knowledge on the “thorough recurrent audit” the Shenzhen Audit Bureau has been conducting on the metro system of that city and also sharing the experience of the audit team lodged in Shenzhen Metro Group Company Ltd. and learning about the content and criteria of the audit they are conducting.

The visit, which ended on July 29, put CA’s staff in contact with new knowledge and skills in the area of recurrent audit and, at the same time, laid down foundations for a platform on which the two audit institutions would strengthen their professional relationship, intensify communication, cooperate more closely and work for bettering the audit skills of their staff.

On the other hand, with the support and under the coordination of National Audit Office (NAO), four CA’s auditors have been designated to take part in an internship in Chengdu. The internship is divided into two parts of thirty days each, the first took already place in June and the second one will be in September. The interns participate in the field works of the “recurrent audit on rebuilding areas affected by Wenchuan’s earthquake”, an audit project led by the resident audit office of NAO in Chengdu. CNAO’s Chengdu office attached great importance to the internship, and after considering all relevant aspects, decided to send the interns to do field works so that they could come into first hand contact with the reality of the recurrent audit. During the internship (first part), auditors from both sides could have had an in-depth exchange on design, key issues, techniques and methods of recurrent audit on public investments, they learned from each others and shared innovative perspectives. CA expects the participation in national recurrent audit projects would bring skills and experiences benefiting its audit works and raising its audits’ quality.