Musa KAYRAK
Principal Auditor, CISA
December, Tehran
Recommendation 1
Improve constitutional and legal basis
in order to ensure better functioning of
SAIs

Established by virtue of the Constitution and
enjoys a permanent legal status
 Mentioned the first Constitution(1876 ) of the Ottoman
Empire (Chamber of Accounts)
 Maintained its status in 1924, 1961 and 1982
Constitutions of the Turkish Republic.
 The Law on the TCA
Recommendation 2
Improve all aspects of independence of
SAIs


Independent of the legistlative, executive and
judicial branches
President and members:
◦ A fixed term under the Constitution or law
◦ The fix term of office of the President of Turkish
Court of Accounts shall be five years. May be
elected twice at most.
◦ Members are elected until retirement.

Enjoys financial independence without any
intervention of the Ministry of Finance
◦ Within the scope of the general budget
◦ Preparing its own budget independently
◦ Does not have to follow the general budgeting procedures
as it is the case for other public administrations under the
general budget.
◦ According to the article 62 of the Law on the TCA, the
Presidency of TCA shall submit its budget directly to the
Turkish Grand National Assembly (TGNA) and forward one
copy to the Ministry of Finance.

The Turkish Grand National Assembly has the final
say on the budget of the TCA.
◦ However, in practice, the TCA does not face any budgetary
limitation imposed by the TGNA.
Recommendation 3
Broaden audit mandate of SAIs to strengthen
the external audit function in the public
financial management and control system


Central or national government agencies,
bureaus, offices, instrumentalities and local
government units at all levels
In addition to this, the TCA has the power to
audit:
 All types of administrations, organizations, institutions,
associations, enterprises and companies affiliated to, or
founded by public administrations
 Domestic and foreign resources and funds, including
European Union funds;
 All public accounts, including private accounts, funds,
resources and activities regardless of whether these are in
the public administrations budget;
 Accounts and transactions of international institutions and
organizations within the framework of the principles set out
in the relevant treaty or agreement
Recommendation 4
Build a strategic approach to fight against
corruption
1.
2.
3.
4.
National Strategy for Improving
Transparency and Strengtening Anticorruption
Strategic Plan of TCA 2014-2018
Anti-corruption Strategy and Action Plan of
the TCA
Anti-fraud manual (to be prepared)
Recommendation 5
Develop methodologies and business
processes to determine high risk areas and
fraud indicators
1.
2.
General risk assessment methodology of the
TCA
Implementation of audits:
1. Physical observation and site visits,
2. Risk analysis and analysis of complaints and referrals
received and
3. Cross control of data obtained especially from different
sources.
3.
Sources for RF &FI:




Frequently mentioned subjects in the official reports of
criminal act written by auditors
Main issues highlighted in the denunciation letters,
Hot topics or alleged cases of corruption in the media
Legal conflicts which involve auditees of the TCA.
Recommendation 6
Investigation power is not appropriate for the
most SAIs. Yet, each SAI needs to carry out an
initial review of the suspicious cases of
corruption
Trial of accounts is carried by the Chambers of
the TCA and TCA judgements results in four
main decisions:
1. Compliance of accounts and transactions
with legislation in force
2. Indemnification of public loss from those
responsible
3. Matters deemed necessary are communicated
to relevant public authorities
4. Cases sent directly to the Public Prosecution
Office for an investigation when discovered
acts involving guilt
Recommendation 7
Use technology to enhance the quality and
effectiveness of audits
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Which technology to use;
How to improve the productivity in audit
planning and implementation;
IT risks that should be highlighted;
Dealing with BIG data
The better use of information and
communication technologies (ITC) in improving
communication with all stakeholders.
Recommendation 8
Ensure the self integrity of SAIs



TCA Experience: Regulation on the
professional code of ethics for the TCA
auditors
Establishing the Ethics Committee
Implementing an INTOSAINT workshop to
improve the internal aspect of transparency
and accountability
Recommendation 9
Improve training and expertise of auditors
regarding anti-corruption



Regular trainings on anti-corruption, fraud
indicators, provisions of criminal law, tool
and techniques to detect corruption and
fraud
Build a certified expert team (e.g. CFE)
Support academic thesis and researches in
the field
Recommendation 10
Improve collaboration and coordination
among SAIs



A problem beyond national borders
Dissemination of knowledge and experience by
seminars, conferences
A database of the detected cases of corruption;
 gain knowledge of successful and/or bitter experiences
 create a list of high risk areas and develop related
methodologies;
 take necessary measures in international law;


Joint and parallel audits
Follow-up/audits of international conventions
and finally corruption is deadly and
we have to stop it at any cost
Musa KAYRAK
Principal Auditor, CISA