COA forms 5 teams to audit 4Ps

MANILA, Philippines – The Commission on Audit (COA) has formed five audit teams tasked to look into the government’s most expensive programs, including the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps).

Wanting to enhance performance audits, COA said members of the new teams will be trained and mentored in performance audit tools and techniques.

The team members include entry, mid and senior-level personnel with multi-disciplinary skills coming from the various audit sectors.

COA said the teams will conduct performance audit of selected government programs such as in-city resettlement, disaster risk preparedness, health services, immunization project for schools and the 4Ps or conditional cash transfer implementation.

The teams chose the programs based on criteria including large government expenditures or beneficiaries served, high risk factors, need for immediate results, and significant weaknesses identified in prior financial and compliance audits.

“It is through performance audit that COA can create a more positive impact by helping government managers assess whether their programs have achieved their target goals and objectives,” COA chairman Michael Aguinaldo said.

COA said performance audits would examine the effectiveness, economy or efficiency of a government program as auditors will assess whether value has been delivered for the money spent and whether available resources deliver the best services.

To prepare the teams and the Technical Working Group (TWG), COA and the US Agency for International Development (USAID) spearheaded an intensive training-workshop on performance audit last month.

Joseph Christoff and Jess Ford, former directors at the US Government Accountability Office (USGAO), conducted a training workshop for the members and the TWG on Oct. 17 to 21, 2016.

COA said the performance audit experts guided the participants through the performance audit process as practiced by the USGAO, from scoping and design, including creating the design matrix; audit evidence and collection methodologies, to the elements of a finding, quality assurance and report messaging.