The Philippines – ISSAI implementation & Specialized audit manual for disaster related funds and activities

The Philippines Project has two components:

a. Adoption and implementation of ISSAI based Philippine Public Sector Standards of Auditing;
b. Development and adoption of a specialized audit manual for disaster related funds and activities.
 
In March 2015, the Commission on Audit issued an Office Order to create a Working Group to manage the project.  The Group was subsequently formed and a work plan was developed and approved in April 2015.  The Working Group is now in the process of drafting the PPSA 5500 series with Practice Notes.
 
Asian Development Bank would support the COA in financial audit compliance with ISSAIS under a regional project.
Collaboration with other Development Partners (DPs) is being made to ensure that the proposed project will complement and not overlap with other DPs’ efforts.  The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has been providing complimentary Technical Assistance (TA) grants to COA for developing audit capability to promote good governance.  ADB is considering a regional capacity development technical assistance (R-CDTA) that aims to empower four (4) SAIs (including COA) of the Association of South East Asia Nations (ASEAN) to improve the financial audit compliance with the international standards of SAI (ISSAI).  Some activities included in the ADB proposal will be jointly collaborated with development partners through parallel financing.  For the Philippines, activities related to the adoption and implementation of ISSAI based Philippine Public Sector Standards of Auditing will be funded by the World Bank.  ADB’s support to the Philippines SAI will focus on disseminating the ISSAI-based financial audit guidelines to other ASEANSAI members.
 
The budget for component 1 (165’514$) is slightly higher, than the one indicated in the INTOSAI-Donor Cooperation Database for the request issued by COA under the GCP 2013 (157’950$).
Supervision resources of the Bank task team have been allocated in the form of a BETF. The budget for component 1 is slightly higher than the original budget reflected in the INTOSAI-Donor Cooperation Database due to the inclusion of a component for the necessary external audit ($10,000).  The remaining difference is due to exchange rate fluctuations since the original submission.  The project will ensure that there will be no double financing for specific activities.