On September 30, 2016 State Audit Office of Georgia (SAOG) and the Center for Audit Excellence of US Government Accountability Office (US GAO) signed the agreement aimed to develop professional skills of SAO’s IT auditors. This undoubtedly is a one step forward in developing one of SAO’s strategic directions. It is noteworthy that US GAO has been a leader within the Supreme Audit Institution (SAI) community in developing and applying methodologies and approaches for conducting information systems audits for many years.
Within the collaboration framework US GAO’s experts will organize trainings in audit of information security for SAO’s IT auditors. They will also participate in SAO’s two pilot audits of information security.
Information technology audit is a new type of audit for the State Audit Office of Georgia. It is meant to respond to modern challenges associated with fast-paced transition to e-governance and extensive use of information systems in the public sector. Moreover, establishment and further development of this type of audit will provide more effectiveness to SAO’s activities as it increases the scopes of these activities, enhances their quality, saves organizational resources and improves the results produced by other types of audits as well. All of the aforementioned ensures the improvement of SAO’s general performance and therefore contributes to the enhancement of public financial management.
It is noteworthy that this collaboration takes place within the framework of the project “IT Audit Development in the State Audit Office of Georgia” (click here for more). The latter is being funded by the World Bank. Project’s primary objective is to introduce and develop IT audit direction in accordance with international standards.
