The State Audit Office hosted a meeting with the representatives of the US Agency for International Development (USAID). The participants of the meeting evaluated the state of the ongoing projects and discussed the next stages of development.
The USAID cooperates with the SAO within the scope of the "National Governance Program" and "Local Governance Program".
Cooperation with the USAID National Governance Program includes a capacity building that supports the institution in the professional development of auditors and, the introduction and development of new products.
In particular, within the scope of the program, cooperation continued with the US Government Accountability Office (GAO), with the support of which the office started implementing the building Equity approach into performance audits and the practice of evaluating the impact of issued recommendations.
Also, GAO's Center for Audit Excellence (CAE) conducts professional trainings for the auditors to strengthen continuous professional capabilities. At GAO's Washington office, selected auditors from the SAO undergo an annual International Auditor Fellowship Program.
With the support of the National Governance Program, the office is strengthening IT audits and is implementing international IT related security standards, which includes both expert and auditor capacity development.
Within the scope of USAID local governance program, the project "Cooperation of the State Audit Office and Municipalities for Improving Public Administration" is being implemented with the aim to deepen cooperation with representatives of municipalities.
Within the framework of the workshops, are discussed the main audit results and recommendations conducted in the Municipalities, the recommendations for the follow-up process and the usage of the SAO’s recommendations monitoring electronic system - ARIS, as well as strengthening the role of the Sakrebulos and internal audits in the oversight of public finances management.
The USAID and the SAO agreed to continue the memorandum of cooperation for the development of project stages.
The meeting was attended by John Zahn, USAID Regional Controller, Corinne Rothblum, acting Deputy Director of the USAID/Caucasus Bureau for Democracy, Human Rights and Governance and Lina Panteleeva, Governance Specialist at USAID. Sophio Dvalishvili, Deputy Auditor General, Tsotne Karkashadze, Head of the State Budget and Strategic Analysis Department, and Nino Kereselidze, Head of the Donor Relations Division participated in the working meeting on behalf of the SAO.
