TASK FORCE ON INTOSAI AUDITOR PROFESSIONALISATION (TFIAP) 

Introduction and background

In 2014 the former Finance and Administration Committee (FAC) of INTOSAI requested the CBC to lead a FAC task group to research certification and other key aspects of professional development in INTOSAI, which at the end of that year resulted in a White Paper on Professional Development in INTOSAI, with a number of recommendations.  Arising from the White Paper, the 2014 Governing Board requested the task group to conduct more detailed research on professionalisation and to develop a competency framework for possible piloting within the INTOSAI community in the long term.

At XXII INCOSAI in December 2016, the Governing Board adopted two key outputs produced by the task group:

• a Position Paper on Enabling mechanisms required to facilitate and structure professional development at SAI level, and
• a Competency Framework for public sector audit professionals 

Furthermore, the Governing Board approved that the FAC task group be disbanded and replaced with a Task Force on INTOSAI Auditor Professionalization (TFIAP) under the CBC given the committee’s strategic objective to ‘strengthen structured INTOSAI professional development as an anchor for professional capacity development and potential INTOSAI auditor professionalization’.

The mandate given to the TFIAP was to continue researching enabling mechanisms required to facilitate and structure professional development in INTOSAI, and to utilise the competency framework as a basis for further discussion and refinement of the concepts related to professional development in order to provide INTOSAI with a set of professional pronouncements on auditor competence in the next three to six years, including the development of specific professional development options.

Strategic concept for the TFIAP 2017-19

In preparation for the establishment of the TFIAP, the CBC Secretariat developed a Draft Strategic Outline (April 2017) aimed at guiding the work of the task force over the next three years.

This concept document will be work-shopped at the first meeting of the TFIAP with a view to enhancing it with the experience and insight of the members of the task force. The meeting will take place in Brasilia, 6-7 June, 2017 (please see under Ongoing Activities of TFIAP).

SAI South-Africa case study

Concept Document

Detail Unpacking of Concept

Related articles

FOCUS/MONTH: The chartered accountant of the future: http://www.accountancysa.org.za/wordpress/focus-month-the-chartered-accountant-of-the-future/ 

Global Audit Leadership Forum (GALF) – 2015

Adithi Pandit submission (GALF 2015)

PWC submission (GALF 2015)

SAI New Zealand submission (GALF 2015)

SAI South-Africa submission (GALF 2015)

Concluding statement (GALF 2015)

Invitation to become a member of the TFIAP

Letters to invite INTOSAI members to join the TFIAP until the next INTOSAI Congress in 2019 have been sent out in April 2017. Anybody that is interested in joining the work of this task force, can make contact with janvs@agsa.co.za

It is envisaged that the task force will meet twice a year: one contact session during the first semester, and the second meeting on the occasion of the annual CBC meeting in the second semester of the year.

Second meeting of the TFIAP, 22 September 2017.

We are happy to announce that the 1st full meeting of the TFIAP is now scheduled to take place in Washington DC on Friday, 22 September, following on the back of the steering committees of the CBC (18-20 Sept) and the INTOSAI-Donor Cooperation (20-21 Sept) also taking place in Washington. Please find the draft agenda here: Agenda TFIAP 22 September 2017.

At the recent meeting in Brasilia the 1st version of the TFIAP Strategic Concept document was intensely work-shopped and thanks to the insight and inputs of colleagues who were able to attend, resulted in a refined ‘Version 2’ of the document.  The main refinements were as follows:

•       Work Stream 1:  Following intense and fruitful discussions, it was decided to change the approach to be less academic and to develop needs-based guidance for use by SAIs to structure their professional development strategies, analyse existing competency gaps, and structure professionalization programmes.  Work Stream 1 will anchor the work of the TFIAP, and also advise on which elements the guidance should be elevated to potential competency standards as part of the INTOSAI Framework for Professional Pronouncements. The Draft Process Flow is now available, please find it right here:  DRAFT PROCESS FLOW (updated 17 July 2017).

•       Work Streams 2 – 4:  The work of these work streams are under further consideration and will be reported on at the meeting in Washington DC, including suggestions on how these work streams will be integrated with work stream 1.

Please contact Jan at janvs@agsa.co.za<mailto:janvs@agsa.co.za> should you need additional information on the TFIAP progress to date.

First meeting of the TFIAP, 6-7 June 2017.

The first meeting of the task force is scheduled for 6 and 7 June 2017 in Brasília, Brazil, to coincide with the Professional Standards Committee later in that week. Please find the Draft Agenda TFIAP 5-6 June 2017 here.

A more detailed agenda will be circulated at a later stage, but the main agenda items will include –

• a review of the TFIAP strategic concept document, and in particular the envisaged work streams; and
• a brainstorming session on the key imperatives driving the need for standards for auditor competence, including identifying the key elements required for the development of such standards, as well as the core questions to be included in the envisaged mini-survey within the SAI community and INTOSAI’s regions.

Please find below relevant TFIAP documentation (2017):

Progress report on the work of the TASK-FORCE on INTOSAI Auditor Professionalisation (Feb 2018)

TFIAP – dashboard report (Aug 2017)

TFIAP – strategic outline (Version 3, August 2017)

DRAFT PROCESS FLOW (updated 17 July 2017)

Final Competency Framework (2016)

Position Paper of Professionalisation

Report by TGIAC to 68th INTOSAI Governing Board Meeting

Blogs on:

Competencies

Professionalisation Success Stories

Thoughts About the Auditor of the Future

Chair of Task Force

Mr Jan van Schalkwyk

Email: janvs@agsa.co.za

Executive in the Auditor-General’s office • Auditor-General of South Africa
Tel: +27(0)12 422 9823 • Fax: +27(0)12 426 8257 • Mobile: +27(0)82 376 2246 •

Auditor-General of South Africa (AGSA)
P.O. Box 446
Pretoria 0001
South Africa. E-mail: IR@agsa.co.za.