Pacific regional report on the cooperative performance audit into solid waste management

Report ID: 235

This report provides a regional overview of the process and outcomes of the cooperative performance audit in the Pacific region on solid waste management. The report records the achievements against Pacific Regional Audit Initiative (PRAI) objectives, including building performance auditing capacity within the member audit offices of the Pacific Association of Supreme Audit Institutions (PASAI), and the lessons learned from the first cooperative audit. In addition, the high level findings about solid waste management in the Pacific countries that were part of the audit, are presented.

Ten member audit offices from PASAI participated in the region’s first cooperative performance audit. The audit reports of seven of the ten SAIs – Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), Guam, Marshall Islands, Page 8 the Republic of Palau, Papua New Guinea (PNG), and Tuvalu – are now in the public domain. The remaining three SAIs participated in the cooperative audit but have not yet released their individual country reports. Because of confidentiality issues, these country reports cannot be identified in this regional report. As a result, when cross-country comparisons are made in this report, they will be referred to as PICT 1, PICT 2 and PICT 3.

Pacific Regional Report of Access to Safe Drinking Water Report of the Cooperative Perform Audit: Access to Safe Drinking Water

Report ID: 236

This report provides a regional overview of the process and outcomes of the Cooperative Performance Audit in the Pacific region on access to safe drinking water. The report records the achievements against Pacific Regional Audit Initiative (PRAI) objectives, including building performance auditing capacity within PASAI (see Appendix A), and the lessons learned from the second cooperative audit. In addition the high level findings, about access to safe drinking water in the Pacific island countries/states that were the focus of the audit, are presented.

Ten PASAI member audit offices took part in the audit: Cook Islands, the states of Kosrae and Yap of the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), Fiji, Kiribati, Palau, PICT 1, Samoa, PICT 2 and Tuvalu. Of the SAIs participating in the second cooperative audit, seven had participated in the first cooperative audit and three were new to the cooperative performance audit approach, the states of Kosrae and Yap of FSM and Kiribati.

The audit reports of the following SAIs are now in the public domain: Cook Islands, Fiji, the states of Kosrae and Yap of FSM, Kiribati, Palau, Samoa, and Tuvalu. Two additional SAIs participated in the cooperative audit. However, their reports have not yet been released and because of confidentiality issues the individual country reports cannot be identified in this regional report. As a result, when cross-country comparisons are made in this report, these Pacific island countries will be referred to as PICT 1 and PICT 2.

Key Findings

The main findings from each of the three lines of enquiry are noted below.

• The overall finding on the first line of enquiry is that most of the ten PICTs have legal and policy frameworks in place but not a single, overarching framework.
• The overall finding on the second line of enquiry is that legal and policy frameworks have not been effectively implemented in most of the ten audited countries/states.
• The overall finding on the third line of enquiry is that there are weaknesses in monitoring systems and performance management frameworks.

Pacific Regional Report of the Cooperative Performance Audit: Managing Sustainable Fisheries

Report ID: 237

This report provides a regional overview of the process and outcomes of the third Cooperative Performance Audit in the Pacific region. At the aggregate level, it reports the significant findings about managing sustainable fisheries (in particular the tuna fishery) in the nine Pacific island countries, which were the focus of the audit. The report also records the achievements against Pacific Regional Audit Initiative (PRAI) objectives, including building performance auditing capacity within PASAI.

Nine PASAI member audit offices took part in the audit: PICT 1, the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), Fiji, PICT 2, Palau, Samoa, the Solomon Islands, Tonga and Tuvalu. Owing to confidentiality reasons, the reports of two SAIs are not identified in this regional report, as they have not yet been made public within their jurisdictions. As a result, these Pacific island states are referred to as Pacific Island Country and Territory (PICT) - PICT 1 and 2. Of the SAIs participating in the third cooperative audit, the majority had participated in either the first or the second cooperative audit. The Solomon Islands SAI was new to the cooperative performance audit approach.

Key Findings

The main findings from each of the three lines of enquiry are presented below:

1. The overall finding for the first line of enquiry is that, while government objectives are set out in legislation, these objectives need to be reflected in sector planning arrangements.
2. The overall finding for the second line of enquiry is that, while there have been important sub-regional developments, it is difficult to provide assurance that economic returns to the Pacific island states involved in this audit, are uniformly fair and reasonable.
3. The overall finding for the third line of enquiry is that the accuracy of fishery data collection and analysis procedures as the basis for good decision making are less than optimal.

Report of the Coordinated Pacific Region Performance Audit: Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Risk Reduction Strategies and Management

Report ID: 238

The countries of the Pacific are among the most vulnerable to the effects of climate change. Rising sea levels, cyclones, tsunamis, food security, and coastal erosion are real and daily threats. Pacific governments also face challenges in recovering from natural disasters and extreme weather events.

In response to these threats and challenges, PASAI Auditors-General undertook a Cooperative Performance Audit on climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction strategies and management.

Ten SAIs from eight Pacific Island states participated in the audit: Cook Islands, Federated States of

Micronesia (FSM), the FSM State of Kosrae, the FSM State of Pohnpei, Fiji, Palau, Samoa, Tuvalu and two other Pacific Island Countries and Territories (PICTs). In line with the practice of previous regional overview reports, participating SAIs that have not yet released their audit reports are referred to anonymously — in this instance as PICT 1 and PICT 2.

Key findings

Audit findings from the eight published audit reports clustered around the following key performance themes:

governance arrangements, including legal and policy frameworks, mainstreaming, vulnerability assessments and strategy development, and coordination between responsible agencies

project implementation, including project-level governance—coordination and project management, financing and human resource capacity constraints

monitoring and reporting.

Pacific Regional report on the Cooperative Performance Audit on Public Debt Management

Report ID: 239

This Cooperative Performance Audit on Public Debt Management is the fifth regional cooperative audit conducted by the Pacific Association of Supreme Audit Institutions (PASAI). Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) from eight Pacific Island Countries and Territories conducted individual audits on Public Debt Management within their jurisdictions. The SAIs that chose to participate in this audit are: Cook Islands; Fiji; Federated States of Micronesia – National; Federated States of Micronesia — Kosrae; the Federated States of Micronesia — Pohnpei; Guam; Republic of the Marshall Islands and Samoa.

This report synthesizes the findings from the eight individual audits and identifies common findings in the management of public debt in the Pacific. Other jurisdictions may learn from both the individual audit reports as well as from this regional report. The outcomes of this report will also be shared with the INTOSAI Regional Working Committee on Public Debt.

Consolidated findings

Based on the four key concepts of good public debt management detailed in ISSAI 54221, the audit issues identified by all participating SAIs can be summarised under two cross-cutting: governance and monitoring and reporting.

Governance: Four of the eight participating SAIs identified lack of a legal framework and a weak organisational structure for agencies involved in public debt management as being of concern. Common issues were lack of a procedures manual to guide and inform decision makers, lack of defined roles and responsibilities and a lack of coordination and monitoring across key government agencies. Critical operational risks related to weak internal controls of government agencies responsible for public debt management were also identified.

Monitoring and reporting: Six of the eight participating SAIs highlighted a lack of available information or documentation and weak or nonexistent debt management strategies and loan repayment schedules. These issues can be partially attributed to the limited knowledge and experience of staff responsible for debt management activities. Another issue identified was the lack of regular and complete reporting due to sub-optimal use debt management software.

This lack of information brings uncertainty to whether the reported financial condition of a government is complete and accurate.

Key message for Pacific SAIs: Through public sector audits, SAIs can develop a sound appreciation of the issues faced by government agencies that are responsible for public debt management. SAIs can have a positive impact on trust in society because audit scrutiny focuses the minds of custodians of public resources on how well they use those resources, includingmanaging public debt levels.