In his role at GAO, James-Christian Blockwood supports Comptroller General Gene L. Dodaro in facilitating innovation and capacity building. He is responsible for the GAO Strategic Plan and concurrently manages the agency’s relationships with public and private sector organisations and with the international audit community.
One of the issues that recurred in the discussion between James-Christian Blockwood and Krzysztof Kwiatkowski was the independence of Supreme Audit Institutions and their Heads, and the need to promote this idea worldwide. James-Christian Blockwood and Krzysztof Kwiatkowski shared the experience of their SAIs in efforts aimed at promoting SAIs’ independence and the capacity building initiatives undertaken by their institutions for the benefit of other SAIs. President Kwiatkowski briefly presented his guest with the twinning projects that NIK is involved in.
During their conversation, James-Christian Blockwood and Krzysztof Kwiatkowski discussed the new Strategic Plan of the International Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI) for the years 2017-2022, which has been developed by the Task Force led by GAO. The document is now being commented on by the INTOSAI Community, and the exposure period ends on 31 July. President of NIK shared NIK’s experience in developing the strategic plan for EUROSAI, which is a regional working group of INTOSAI for Europe. NIK coordinated the works on that plan, in force for the years 2011-2017.
The Government Accountability Office is an active member of INTOSAI, involved in the works of many committees, subcommittees, working groups and task forces. James-Christian Blockwood and Krzysztof Kwiatkowski also discussed the upcoming XXII INTOSAI Congress to be held in Abu Dhabi in December 2016. The public auditors community gathered at the Congress will discuss two themes: (1) Sustainable Development Goals: how INTOSAI can contribute to the UN 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development, including good governance and strengthening the fight against corruption; and (2) Professionalization: what can promote INTOSAI’s credibility to become a more prominent international organisation?
During the Congress, NIK will present CUBE - a tool developed by NIK experts dedicated to analysis of audit reports that may be used in the analysis of Sustainable Development Goals implementation. NIK representation will also actively participate in the discussion on the professionalization of auditing and ways to promote INTOSAI’s credibility. Approached by SAI of New Zealand, chair of the theme, NIK will be a moderator or rapporteur of one of the discussions held within the theme.
At the Congress, the revised version of INTOSAI Code of Ethics - ISSAI 30 will also be adopted, which has been developed by an international team led by NIK. The experts of the team - public auditors from 14 SAIs - have updated the document so that it can meet the current challenges of the audit environment.
