News:  Year 2006: January-March

RAA in designing a course on Performance Audit for Mekong Region

March 9, 2006: INTOSAI Development Initiatives (IDI)-sponsored Capacity Building Needs Assessment was successfully completed on November 3, 2005 by the ASOSAI (Asian Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions) training specialists including Mr. Tashi from the Royal Audit Authority. The assessment was done on the targeted Supreme Audit Institutions in Mekong region. The core objective of the assessment was to identify the SAIs needs for institutional strengthening for carrying out the audit work efficiently and effectively.

Based on this survey, performance auditing has been identified as one of the main workshop topics to be delivered for the Mekong region.

Six Officers and staff from RAA joined the office of the Chief Election Commissioner of Bhutan

February 2, 2006: The following six officials and staff from the Royal Audit Authority joined the Office of the Chief Election Commissioner of Bhutan from 16th January 2006:

Mr. Ugen Chewang, the new Auditor General of Bhutan

January 19, 2006: As enshrined in the Draft Constitution of the Kingdom of Bhutan, the post of the Auditor General of Bhutan is one of the constitutional posts that will come to effect from the year 2008. The Royal Government of Bhutan in preparation for the implementation of the first ever draft Constitution of Bhutan appointed Mr. Ugen Chewang, the former Director of the National Pension and Provident Fund Bureau, as the Hon'ble Auditor General of Bhutan, one of the first three constitutional posts declared on December 2005 under the Royal Decree. 

Mr. Ugen Chewang, had formally resumed the office as the Auditor General of Bhutan, Royal Audit Authority on 13^th January 2006. Handing taking between the incoming and outgoing Auditors General was done in presence of the senior officials of the Royal Audit Authority in the RAA complex.  

Mr. Ugen Chewang was born in the year 1956 at Chenary, Deothang, Samdrup  Jongkhar. Started his early education from Deothang Primary School, completed High School from Paro in 1974, did Bachelor of Commerce from Punjab University, India in 1978 and completed Master in Business Administration (MBA) on management from Syracuse University, USA in the year 1985. 

Mr. Ugen Chewang began his carrier as an auditor in 1979. He served in the Royal Audit Authority in various capacities from trainee officer, Assistant Audit Officer to the Deputy Auditor General. Mr. Ugen Chewang was promoted and transferred as the Director of the National Pension and Provident Fund Bureau in 2000 and after serving for the last six years in NPPF Mr. Ugen Chewang is now appointed as the Hon’ble Auditor General of Bhutan under the Royal Decree. 

Mid-term review 2005-06 in progress  

January 19, 2006: The Royal Audit Authority is in the process of reviewing our plans and programs for the financial year 2005-2006 from 19-20 January 2006 in the RAA Conference hall. The agenda of the review includes:  

All the heads of the Regional Offices of RAA, Bumthang, Tsirang and Samdrup Jongkhar are here at the Head quarter, Thimphu for a two day Mid-term review meeting.

Closing Ceremony for the IT Audit training 

January 19, 2006:  The tailor made training on IT Audit under the Netherlands Fellowship Programme (NFP) commenced on 7^th November 2005 came to an end on 13^th January 2006. The training was segregated into three phases:

Phase 1 (in Bhutan)                         :       7-18 November 2005
Phase II (in the Netherlands)            :        5-9 December 2005
Phase III (in Bhutan)                       :        9-13 January 2006 

During the closing ceremony, the Hon'ble Auditor General of Bhutan, Mr. Ugen Chewang in his address pointed out on the importance of IT in our daily life and stressed auditors to update the knowledge and skills on IT and IT Audit through such trainings. He said the training on IT Audit for the auditors are timely and RAA needs to stress on such trainings in the future too.  

Dasho Kunzang Wangdi, the Chief Election Commissioner of Bhutan was the guest of honour for the closing ceremony and awarded certificates to the participants. Mrs. Margaret Elinor Hershey and Mr. Gerrit Johannes Van Der Pijl, instructors for the training left Bhutan yesterday, 18^th January 2006.

Dasho Kunzang Wangdi, Auditor General appointed as the Chief Election Commissioner of Bhutan

January 5, 2006: The Hon'ble Auditor General of Bhutan, Dasho Kunzang Wangdi has been appointed as the Chief Election Commissioner of Bhutan under the Royal Decree on December 31. Dasho Kunzang Wangdi joined Royal Audit Authority as the Auditor General of Bhutan in January 2000. During last six years under the leadership of Dasho Kunzang Wangdi as the Auditor General of Bhutan, the Royal Audit Authority started publishing the Annual Audit Report. The Annual Audit Plan, Annual Audit Conference Report, In-house training reports were made regular features of the RAA. Several Auditor General's Advisory Series, AG's Occasional Papers were also published for the first time.

The Royal Audit Authority also signed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India. Under this memorandum, eight officers from the RAA completed course on Indian Audit and Accounts Service (IA&AS) at Shimla, India while two officers are still continuing the course, five Indo-Bhutan Audit trainings were conducted by very senior level officers from India and fifty officers and auditors got trained through various attachment courses on IT Audit, Performance Audit and Financial Audit. The concepts of Performance Auditing or auditing beyond the books of accounts, IT auditing and Environmental auditing were introduced in RAA. Dasho had also pioneered in drafting the Audit Act, Anti-Corruption Act, Performance Audit Guidelines and launched the Fraud Alert System in the RAA web site encouraging the whistle blowers to report corrupt practices in the country to RAA.

Under his guidance, the RAA hosted the 14^th International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI) Standing Committee Meeting on IT Audit and also commemorated the International Anti-Corruption Day-9^th December 2004 and 2005 for the first time in Bhutan.

The RAA was elected as one of the nine Governing Board Members of Asian Organizations of Supreme Audit Institutions (ASOSAI) in 2003. Recognizing Dasho’s achievements in the RAA, in June 2005, the INTOSAI Development Initiative (IDI) invited Dasho, in his personal capacity, to attend the Focus Group Meeting of the IDI Strategic Planning 2007 onwards. Dasho was also elected as Vice Chair of theme I 'the possibilities of bilateral and multilateral cooperation' during the 18^th INCOSAI (Congress of International Organizations of Supreme Audit Institutions) Meeting in 2004, which was attended by representatives from more than 180 countries.

The Director of the National Pension and Provident Fund, Ugen Chewang was appointed as the new Auditor General of Bhutan. The Chief Election Commissioner and the Auditor General are the constitutional post and these interim appointments were made in preparation for the general elections in the year 2008. The Office of the Election Commission will be the newly established office under the draft constitution act of the Kingdom of Bhutan.

The handling taking between the out going and in coming Auditors General will be done on 13^th January 2006 in the RAA complex.

Last phase training on IT Audit in Bhutan

January 5, 2006: The third phase of the training on 'IT Audit' under the Netherlands Fellowship Programme commences from 9^th January 2006 at the Royal Audit Authority's conference hall. During the last phase of the training, teaching will be focused on the ‘instructors skills' so that the participants can impart in-house training on the IT Audit to the rest of the auditors professionally. Instructors, Ms. Margaret E. Hershey and Mr. Gerrit J. Van Der Pijl reaches Thimphu on 9^th January 2006.