PASAI held Public Accounts Committee Workshop in Cook Islands ^Featured

PASAI was in Rarotonga to support the government officials who are responsible for preparing government accounts and for scrutinising those accounts after they are audited. This was a two days workshop from 21 to 22 March 2016.

Key government officials came together to talk about the role of Members of Parliament in overseeing how public funds are spent and the role of the Public Accounts Committee within the Cook Islands Parliamentary processes.

Mr Eroni Vatuloka, the PASAI Advocate, and Mr Siosiua Utoikamanu, PASAI Consultant, facilitated the workshop alongside the Cook Islands’ Director of Audit, Mr Allen Parker. Mr Vatuloka came to the Cook Islands at the invitation of Mr Parker. Mr Vatuloka said, “The intention of the workshop was to establish and then to continue to build a working relationship with the Committees”. PASAI is able to bring a regional perspective to their workshops, sharing Pacific-wide experiences and circumstances.

The  Deputy  Speaker  of  Parliament,  Hon.  Rose  Brown,  opened  the  proceedings  stating,  “The  Public Accounts Committee and other members of Parliament in attendance will benefit from the workshop in terms of understanding their roles in the financial oversight of government finances.”

The workshop was based around presentations and question and answer sessions about PASAI’s newly released Accountability and Transparency report, about the roles of Public Accounts Committees across the Pacific, and how to read and understand the audit opinions, and the whole-of-government financial statements.

This was the third Public Accounts Committee workshop that PASAI has run under its new advocacy program and they hope to run more across the Pacific. Key issues raised during discussions included the level of participation of the private sector in the scrutiny of government budgets, whether the Public Accounts Committee should engage civil society and non-government organisations, and whether the independence of Parliament has an impact on the independence of the Audit Office.

The Speaker, Hon. Niki Rattle, and Chairman of the PAC, Hon. Mona Ioane, thanked the Government Audit Office and PASAI for organising the workshop.

During the week, Mr Vatuloka also conducted high-level dialogue with the Minister of Finance, Chair of the PAC and senior government officials.

PASAI is the official association of supreme audit institutions (government audit offices and similar organisations, known as SAIs) in the Pacific region. PASAI promotes transparent, accountable, effective, and efficient use of public sector resources in the Pacific.

It contributes to that goal by helping its member SAIs improve the quality of public sector auditing in the Pacific to uniformly high standards.

PASAI is supported by the Asian Development Bank, the Governments of Australia and New Zealand, the International Association of Supreme Audit Institutions Development Initiative, and the World Bank.

—ENDS—

For further information, contact

Director of Audit
Office of Public Expenditure Review Committee and Audit
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Phone: 00 682 21 231
Fax: 00 682 25 231

Mr Eroni Vatuloka, PASAI’s Advocate at: Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Website:www.pasai.org
Resources: PASAI’s  Accountability and Transparency Report Summary brochure about PASAI’s Accountability and Transparency Workshop