Opening Speech by
Tan Sri Dato’ Setia Ambrin Bin Buang
Auditor General of Malaysia
at the Financial Audit & Fraud Awareness Workshop Jointly Organised by ASOSAI-IDIADB and The National Audit Department of Malaysia
on the 7 – 23 May 2007 at The Legend Hotel, Kuala Lumpur
Your Excellencies, Distinguished Guests, the Course Administrator, the Instructors, the
Participants, Ladies & Gentlemen.
1.
The NAD of Malaysia is deeply honoured to be hosting the Financial Audit & Fraud
Awareness Workshop in Kuala Lumpur which we are organizing jointly with ASOSAI-IDIADB. On behalf of the organizers and my colleagues, I would like to extend a very warm
welcome - Selamat Datang – to all workshop participants from 6 countries. We are indeed very
happy to be your hosts in the spirit of Visit Malaysia Year 2007 which coincides with the 50th
Anniversary celebration of our independence and I hope you have a fruitful and enjoyable stay in
our country.
2.
This is not the first time the NAD of Malaysia is collaborating with ASOSAI and other
international bodies in providing training courses for auditors. In the past we have been involved
in training courses in the field of Financial Audit, Auditing of Public Works, Performance Audit,
Audit of Information Technology and e-Learning with participants from a number of developing
countries. We are happy to do so because we firmly believe in knowledge sharing as a means to
boost the auditing profession in developing countries.
3.
This year, apart from this international course, we will be hosting two more international
courses under the Malaysian Technical Cooperation Programme. One will be on Performance
Auditing in June and the other one is on ICT auditing in November this year. Through these
courses, the Malaysian Government will be sponsoring participants from developing countries,
who will learn together with their Malaysian counterparts. The NAD of Malaysia through our
National Audit Academy will be its implementing agency. This will mark another important
milestone in our effort to boost the professionalism of auditors in the developing countries.
4.
I would also like to extend this opportunity to congratulate the ASOSAI, INTOSAI
Development Initiatives (IDI), Asian Development Bank (ADB) in collaboration with our
Department for their efforts in organising this cooperation workshop which is aimed at capacity
building among the Mekong and South Asians SAIs. I understand that this workshop is attended
by 28 participants from Afghanistan, Cambodia, Laos, Maldives, Myanmar and Vietnam. Your
presence will undoubtedly enrich the sharing of knowledge and experience on financial auditing
and financial fraud.
5.
Financial Audit is part and parcel of auditing whether it is carried out independently or
part of the performance audit. The objective of financial audit is to provide credibility and
transparency in financial reporting. An auditor has a responsibility to plan and perform the audit
to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material
misstatement, whether caused by error or fraud. Financial errors can arise as a result of
incorrectly recording of financial statement amounts or financial statement amounts that should
have been recorded but were not.
6.
In the consideration of fraud, there are two types of misstatement which are relevant. It
can be a misstatement arising from the fraudulent financial reporting such as manipulation,
falsification or alteration of accounting records, intentional misapplication of accounting
principles and so forth; and misstatements arising from misappropriation of assets for example
theft or defalcation or embezzling receipts. Because of the characteristic of fraud, the auditor’s
exercise of professional skepticism is important when considering the risk of material
misstatement due to fraud.
7.
In the course of audit, we must have the mindset that recognize the possibility that these
misstatements or exceptions could be present, regardless of any past experience with the entity
and regardless of the belief about management’s honesty and integrity. I believe an effective
audit methodology will facilitate and enhance audit quality because audit quality is vital for
maintaining trust in the financial reporting process and the integrity of financial information.
Audit methodologies must focus on fundamentals and guide good audit judgments.
8.
Pervasive use of computers has increased the importance of information technology (IT) in
attestation audit. We must consider the importance of IT on financial statement processes, the
level of reliance on IT controls and the IT knowledge of the financial auditor. Our Department is
utilising computer-based software (Audit Command Language) for sampling and analysis of the
financial statement audits. With this software, the overall process of auditing the State Public
Account Statement can be completed within two months.
9.
I understand that ASOSAI – based training emphasized on the andragogical approach of
training with systematically organised teaching and learning modules and utilizing exercises,
case studies and group discussions as its training methodologies. These would greatly contribute
towards the achievement of the workshop’s objectives. I hope all of you will fully utilize this
workshop to improve your knowledge and skills and to take back to your organizations the
valuable insights that you will be sharing among yourselves. On this note, I hereby declare this
workshop officially open.
Thank you very much.