PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia has been selected for the first time to chair a working group in the audit community at the Asian Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions (Asosai) and International Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions (Intosai) levels.

The National Audit Department said this follows the appointment of Auditor-General Datuk Seri Wan Suraya Wan Mohd Radzi as the chair of two new working groups, namely the Asosai Working Group on State-owned Enterprises Audit (WGSOEA) and the Intosai Working Group on Follow-up Audit (WGFA).

“The announcement was conveyed by India as the chairman of the Intosai Knowledge Sharing Committee recently. Our involvement and role in the audit community at the international level is increasingly evident with the appointment,” the department said in a statement, Bernama reported.

The statement said the working group will serve as a platform to promote the sharing of knowledge and experience among Intosai members with the aim of strengthening the impact of auditing through a systematic and more structured audit follow-up mechanism.

To date, 65 countries are members of Intosai, with Austria, Brazil, China, Egypt and Georgia having expressed their intention to become members of the new working group.

The establishment of the two working groups is in line with the approval of the amendment to the Audit Act 1957 on July 24 this year which, among other things, empowers and expands the existing mandate of the Auditor General in auditing (SOEs) or better known as government-linked companies at the federal and state levels as well as the implementation of audit follow-up.

The establishment of WGSOEA was approved at the 16th Asosai general assembly on Sept 24 in New Delhi, India.

“This working group is an initiative to strengthen the role of Supreme Audit Institutions in auditing the governance of SOEs in the Asian region,” according to the statement.

To date, 11 Asosai member countries including Japan, Oman, Qatar and Russia have agreed to join the WGSOEA, while 13 other Asian countries including China, India, Indonesia and Thailand have expressed interest in joining.

The establishment of the WGFA was approved at the 78th Intosai governing board meeting in Cairo, Egypt, on Oct 28.

https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2024/11/26/malaysia-to-chair-asosai-and-intosai-working-groups