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Fellow Name: Sadie Stewart

Country: Guyana

Fellow’s home audit office: Audit Office of Guyana

Title: Auditor

Email: sadie.stewart@audit.org.gy

Audit Plan Topic: Implementation of the Solar Home Energy system in Guyana’s Hinterland and Riverine areas

Canadian Host Office: Office of the Auditor General of British Columbia

Grad Quote: “I enjoyed the interaction with the audit teams, it was inclusive and a great learning experience.”

Gallery (2023-2024):

Two experience images (2023-2024):

Decoration Color: Green

Profile Headshot:

My Fellowship:

My Canadian placement:

Office of the Auditor General of British Columbia (OAG BC)

My Canadian audit team:

I was involved in several audits at OAG BC, including audits on:

• Water management, led by Christine Armour, Performance Auditor
• Child care facilities, led by Lisa Sevigny, Manager, Performance Auditor
• The Premises ID program, led by Ruwa Mgodi, Manager, Performance Audit and Related Assurance

My most valuable learning:

My most valuable learning is that we all have our parts to play in making our office and country better so we should work together to make life and living better for all.

How my Canadian colleagues and mentors helped me:

During my time at OAG BC, I really appreciated the help I received in how to identify and assess risk and also the importance of scheduled meetings with team members to discuss the audit and to brainstorm.

What I enjoyed most:

I enjoyed the interaction with the audit teams, it was inclusive and a great learning experience. I also appreciated being invited to a press briefing with the Auditor General and being able to observe a Public Accounts Committee meeting.

My audit plan:

I developed my audit plan with the guidance of my mentor at OAG BC, Greg Morhart, Director, IT Audit.

The connection to my country’s development priorities:

This audit topic aligns with my country’s development priorities and SDG 7 towards ensuring that stable, reliable and affordable energy is provided to all persons in Guyana within an economically, environmentally and socially sustainable framework.

How CAAF and my host office helped:

The input of every person at every stage of this Fellowship program has helped me to strengthen my audit plan by giving me new insight into the subject matter so that I can achieve the best outcome while adding value.

The skills and knowledge I improved by developing this plan:

I learned the importance of ensuring that the line of enquiry is derived from the risk identified and that audit criteria should allow me to conclude against the audit objectives. I will apply this knowledge in developing future audit plans.

My future impact:

The new knowledge I’m most excited to share with my colleagues:

The importance of team meetings at various stages of the audit, templates to have uniformity and training to improve learning and skills.

The difference I hope to make:

My project will bring more awareness to performance audit and inform the Government about the progress made in implementing national strategies and achieving the SDGs. This will contribute to the development of both citizens and the country.

My professional goals:

To continue to do my part as an employee in helping the office achieve its mandate while advancing my academic and professional career.

My Experience Part 1:

The most Canadian thing I did was…

Surviving the cold.

My favourite cultural experience in Canada was…

Winterlude in Ottawa, the train ride to Quebec City, touring museums and Parliament, whale watching, visiting Butchart Gardens, and the hop on hop off bus tour of the city of Victoria and its history.

My Experience Part 2:

My Fellowship experience in one sentence:

My Fellowship experience is one I will never forget, it was well spent and appreciated.

My Fellowship in a single word:

Phenomenal.

Now that I have completed the Fellowship…

I will see where else this journey will take me.

Gender: Female

Sadie has worked at the Audit Office of Guyana for 13 years. She currently works as an Auditor in the Performance Audit Department, where she has 10 years’ experience. She has also been involved in other audits at the Office, such as those of Inter-American Development Bank and World Bank programs in Guyana. She holds a Master of Business Administration degree from the Australian Institute of Business and a Bachelor of Social Science in Public Management from the University of Guyana

My goals for the Fellowship

As a CAAF Fellow, I hope to improve the skills I have acquired for conducting performance audits including planning, examination and report writing. As well, I hope to learn and apply new techniques that can be adopted in my home office to conduct successful, impactful, and value-added performance audits in the future.

The impact I hope to make as a graduate Fellow

As a graduate Fellow, I would like to add value to my office and country by sharing the new knowledge and skills I would have learned with my colleagues through training and development. Furthermore, I would like to increase awareness of what performance auditing is among ministries and agencies and advocate for more performance audits to be conducted.