11th July, 2023 marks the 29th anniversary of the establishment of the State Audit Office of Viet Nam (SAV) (July 11, 1994 – July 11, 2023). With historical landmarks and milestones accomplished, SAV has developed with its position constantly being enhanced. The achievements of SAV serve as the standard measurement of SAV’s reputation and performance on its journey of carrying out the mission for transparent and sustainable national finance.
Auditor General of Viet Nam Mr. Ngo Van Tuan
After 29 years of development under the motto of “Professionalism - Integrity - Integration”, the legal status and legal corridor of SAV have consistently improved; concurrently, there has been remarkable development in organizational structure, capacity and innovative efforts in audit work to improve quality, effectiveness, efficiency, which have supported SAV's robust maturation.
After 29 years of construction and development, the legal status of SAV has continuously improved
Developing SAV in accordance with the new context and situation
SAV has undergone transition from a govenmental agency to a constitutional agency, operating independently and only abiding by the law (Constitution 2013). Subsequently, the Law on the State Audit Office of Viet Nam establised in 2015 replaced its 2005 version, and the Law on amendment and supplement to the Law on SAV (2019) was promulgated, creating a solid foundation for SAV to perform its mission. Accordingly, the function and mandate of SAV were elevated to a new height when the Constitution 2013 stipulated that SAV audits the management and use of public finance and assets.
To meet the requirement in the new context, SAV has actively innovated approach, content, and methods of auditing; researched and learned from international experiences to keep up with the development of new types of audits. The Audit Standards of SAV have been promulgated synchronously, applied to all three types of financial audit, compliance audit and performance audit. Recognizing the opportunities and challenges of the process of integration and growth of the economy, specifically the strong development of the Industrial Revolution 4.0 along with global issues, SAV has actively promoted performance audit, focusing on developing information technology (IT) audit and environmental audit, in addition to traditional types of audits.
SAV focuses on synchronously developing IT infrastructure, building databases, connecting and sharing data and IT application to support operational management and audit activities. In particular, SAV has initially conducted IT audits and applied sophisticated technology to audit activities.
In line with integration and its official memberships in international and regional supreme audit institution organizations, SAV has had favorable conditions for exchanging and updating international knowledge and experience in the field of expertise, legal and institutional frameworks, organizational structure, modern auditing processes and methods, all of which have greatly contributed to SAV's development. Currently, SAV has established cooperative relationships with more than 50 SAIs and signed 30 international agreements with SAIs and international organizations. Notably, SAV successfully hosted the 14th Assembly of ASOSAI and assumed the Chairmanship of ASOSAI for the term of 2018-2021, contributing to advancing its position at national, regional and international levels.
Enhancing the prestige and position of SAV through peformance results
It can be affirmed that the most outstanding achievement of SAV in the past 29 years is the performance of audit activities by conducting thousands of audits across all fields. SAV has proposed financial settlement of 684,586 billion Vietnamdong (VND), thereby increasing state budget revenue by 120,668 billion VND, decreasing state budget expenditure by 171,676 billion VND, along with other proposed handlings of 392,242 billion VND. During the same period, SAV has made recommendations that thousands of legal documents be cancelled, amended, replaced or supplemented to comply with the provisions of the law or practice (during the period of 2018-2022, SAV has recommended handling over 870 legal documents).
On that account, SAV has made audit recommendations for monitoring, reviewing and approving state budget finalization and deciding important national issues of the National Assembly as well as directing the administration, management and use of finance and public asset of the Government; assisting audited units in improving the quality and efficiency of management and use of resources comprehensively, contributing to preventing violations to ensure that production is transparent and business activities adhere to the law and increasing the accountability of individuals, organizations and audited entitiess, thereby strengthening people's confidence in the effectiveness of state agencies’ performance.
Promoting the strengths of human resource for steady growth
Compared with its early years of establishment (1994-1995) as an office of 05 units with around 60 staffs, SAV has grown into an institution of 32 department-level units with a total of over 2,000 auditors and officials. Its human resources have gradually been strengthened with professional ethics, expertise, professionalism to fulfil the requirements of audit tasks and the trust and expectations of the Party, National Assembly and People.
As the 30th anniversary of its establishment (July 11, 2024) is approaching, SAV is making every effort to emulate achievements, striving to successfully complete all assigned tasks, continuing to affirm its position and vital role of a responsible and reputable financial and public asset audit institution to meet the requirements of the Party, State and People./.