Etienne Nzabonimana

My Fellowship

My Canadian placement:

Office of the Auditor General (OAG) of Alberta

My Canadian audit team:

I was part of:

• a performance audit of the Alberta broadband strategy, led by Principal Byron Ofner, at OAG Alberta;
• a performance audit of school authority reporting, led by Principal Monica Jeske, at OAG Alberta; and
• a performance audit of waste collection, led by Audit Manager Leslie Glasbeek, at the Office of the City Auditor of Edmonton.

My most valuable learning:

The most valuable things I learned were effective leadership, focusing on work-life balance and team-building activities within departments and audit teams, and fostering a good relationship with auditees. Another valuable learning was selecting and planning an audit based on, among other selection criteria, national and global priorities like the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to maximize its impact.

How my Canadian colleagues and mentors helped me:

My colleagues and mentors at OAG Alberta assisted in my learning a lot by taking me to visit centres in Alberta doing similar activities to my audit project, on the development of industrial parks, for learning and benchmarking purposes. They also helped me integrate into the OAG family of auditors as new member, with both moral and professional support and orientation (e.g., using OAG templates and meetings with engagement leaders for reviews and coaching).

What I enjoyed most:

Within OAG Alberta, I enjoyed the monthly departmental team-building meetings whereby management and all auditors come together, appreciate the achievements, share updates and socialize. I also enjoyed all professional development sessions, especially those on leadership and engaging auditees, which equipped me with knowledge to execute my duties effectively in my everyday life as an auditor.