Message from the President & CEO – January 2022

As we greet 2022, we continue to face a changing world that is still struggling with COVID, and where governments continue to respond to changing conditions as a result. Despite the struggle, there is hope within the public sector community, where auditors and oversight bodies are finding innovative ways to constructively hold governments to account – rapid reporting on how well governments are rolling out COVID-related programs, proactively identifying what the consequences are in other programs, and carrying on business as usual in a most unusual way. Check out the recent COVID audits listed in our Audit News database, if you have not already done so.

Here at the CAAF, we are carrying on business as usual, but the delivery differs from what it looked like in 2019 – performance audit courses are virtual, staff are working from home, and workshops for Public Accounts Committees are being delivered remotely. We are encouraging dialogue amongst members through monthly calls, webinars, courses and workshops. Delivering these virtually means that more people can connect from all around the globe. The dialogue has been rich and we thank you for sharing your experiences and innovative practices with us, and with each other.

James J. Macdonell

This newsletter includes a link to our new strategic plan. The plan covers 2022-2025 and outlines our strategic goals and some of the ways that we will achieve them. We are in our 42^nd year now, but the inspiration behind the Foundation from 1980 remains relevant today. James J. Macdonell, the first Chair of the Foundation, wrote in 1981: “The Foundation is dedicated to accepting, in a substantive fashion, the challenge for audit to play a broader and more important role in the accountability process, both now and in the future.” The same is true today – but our programs now fully incorporate the roles of both audit and oversight – and our strategic plan puts a spotlight on areas still deserving of research into effective accountability frameworks such as smaller Canadian municipalities and Indigenous communities.

A few more comparisons:

• The Foundation in 1980 focused on introducing comprehensive auditing to add credibility to accountability reports. 42 years later, comprehensive auditing (encompassing “performance audit”, along with financial statement audits) is well accepted, and has been applied at all levels of the public sector, something J. J. Macdonell envisioned. He added “Over time, this concept should also be considered for use in the private sector”. I think that he would be thrilled to see that in 2021, the International Financial Reporting Standards board announced the first International Sustainability Standards Board in response to the call for high quality, transparent, reliable and comparable reporting by public companies on climate and other environmental, social and governance (ESG) matters. Sounds like something tailor-made for comprehensive auditors!
  
  
• 1981 saw 3 courses delivered to a total of 67 participants. 2021 saw 36 courses delivered to a total of 580 participants. And in 2022 we are expecting an increase in the number of courses available as well as an increase in the number of offerings. Now that performance audit techniques are being applied, helping practitioners apply them keeps the CAAF busy.
  
  
• The first annual report described the first annual conference of the Foundation, with over 350 delegates on hand. The Foundation has contributed to conferences held by members in recent years – conferences of legislative auditors, public accounts committees, and internal auditors, to name three. The strategic plan puts out a challenge for us to rejuvenate the CAAF conference, perhaps not annually, but regularly providing our members with the opportunity to share current practices with one another.
  
  
• The first international program was already in place in 1981 and Fellows were nominated from Singapore, Ghana, the Philippines and Malaysia to work in the Office of the Auditor General of Canada. An international program continues today, with funding from Global Affairs Canada and with the involvement of the Offices of the Auditor General of Canada, Quebec, British Columbia, and Alberta. Fellows have not been able to travel to Canada during COVID, but the Foundation and Canadian audit offices are actively involved with the audit offices and oversight bodies of Guyana, Rwanda, Senegal and Vietnam.
  
  
• With the overarching goal of equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) in our 2022-2025 strategic plan, the founding members of 26 men and 1 woman (Erma Morrison, a trailblazer and first Auditor General in British Columbia), might have enjoyed one of our Auditing Gender-Based Analysis Plus (GBA+) professional development offerings.

If you want to learn more about the start of the Foundation, you can read the first annual report here. And please do spend some time looking at our 2022-2025 strategic plan and reach out if there’s anything you’d like to discuss.

Speaking of reaching out, we have sent out a survey to our members to find out how we can best serve your needs. Please do reply to the survey and add anything you would like us to know about so that our program design for 2022-2025 can ensure we are effectively responding to our members’ needs.

To repeat the sentiments of J. J. Macdonell, our program for 2022 is ambitious. With the continuing support and participation of members, however, I am confident that our goals can be attained.