USAID and GAO Sign Deal for Audit improvement in the Developing Countries

In a bid to enhance accountability across the globe, the U.S Agency for International Development together with the U.S Government representatives Accountability Office’s Center for Audit Excellence on Monday entered into a memorandum of understanding in setting up a framework in collaboration on technical and training assistance offers. The agreement’s goal is in enhancing capabilities of the audit organizations in the developed countries. It is during a ceremony at the USAID headquarters that the MoU was signed.

The memorandum of understanding today will go a long way in helping USAID and GAO advance a shared interest in improving accountability in organizations across the globe. In order to help in improving their capacity in auditing, MOU will help in leveraging the Center’s auditing expertise as well as the USAID’s environmental knowledge. The objective is in helping the auditing offices in developed countries to hone their skills in a bid to deliver high quality work regularly and also assume an oversight role effectively. The capable auditing institutions also help national efforts in tracking government activity progress that is undertaken in supporting development goals that are sustainable.

From the MOU perspective, the USAID as well as the Center for Audit Excellence have been perfectly positioned to work harmoniously since they deliver complementary skills and expertise to the task of building capacity of audit community. Establishing a mechanism is the next collaboration step like committee consisting of representatives from both of these organizations in order to share information, coordinate activities and also identify opportunities in capacity development, exploring technical and logistical contributions towards such efforts.

The Center for Audit Excellence was established last year for purposes of offering technical assistance, training and other related services to international as well as domestic accountability organizations. In a bid to ensure services of high quality while offering GAO units’ independence, oversight work and doing audit routinely, the center is primarily staffed by former GAO senior level managers. The Center’s operations are supported through the collected fees. The Center for Audit Excellence is different from the Center for Audit Quality. The latter is a separate entity which works with the accountancy profession in audit improvement.