I had to change my topic today to defend my home ground, the Commission on Audit (CoA).

A recent story “Audits are bought inside DPWH scam,” put the entire CoA community under siege and on global alert. We have state auditors now conducting embassy audits in countries around the world and offices and agencies of the United Nations.

It is gravely wrong to generalize that this flood control DPWH scam is also happening at the CoA. It is strictly isolated. Our state auditors are among the world’s best and are highly respected for their competence, efficiency and resilience.

Apparently, there has been a mix-up with the precise definitions of financial and compliance audits, internal audits, and quality audits, as mentioned in the story, leading to the conclusion that “auditors can be bought.”

There is no quick money in financial, compliance, and quality audits, functions exercised by the CoA on a post-audit basis. But there is quick money in internal audits, which is a totally management function.

The constitutional mandate is the post-audit. Who performs the pre-audit? The accounting service of government agencies does. The people are therefore barking up the wrong tree. It is the chief accountant who pre-audits, not the resident auditor.

Speaking from personal experience, may I relate to you a fascinating but true story. In 2011, during the time of the Grace Pulido Tan-Heidi Mendoza tandem, they issued a CoA circular prohibiting CoA personnel from receiving any form or kind of additional compensation from management.

Five days after, lightning struck. Eleven CoA resident auditing personnel in the Department of Agriculture were courted and “seduced” by the woman internal auditor to accept P40,000 each, plus agricultural products, as Christmas gifts “for their efficiency in the performance of their audit duties as resident auditors of the department.”

I immediately reported the matter in writing to the then CoA chairperson, Pulido Tan. What happened next is now history.

What I just want to point out is that internal auditors who are organic members of an agency workforce initiated the anomaly, not CoA.

In relation to the present raging costly and ghostly P1.2-trillion flood control DPWH scam, if you were the resident auditor of the engineering district office, quietly alone, and the district accountant approached you with a box filled with one thousand peso bills worth P10 million — “Sir, this is for the post-audit” — what would you do? It is a reality that could happen in our kind of democracy.

A financial audit is a comprehensive examination of an organization’s financial records conducted by qualified professionals. The experts meticulously review financial statements to confirm their accuracy, ensure compliance with applicable regulations, and corroborate that the information fairly represents the organization’s financial position.

An internal auditor is not a Commission on Audit personnel; rather internal auditors are employees of the respective government agencies and are responsible for the internal controls and performance management within their own organizations.

While CoA is the government’s external watchdog, each government agency has its own internal audit service (IAS) to ensure compliance and efficiency at the agency level.

Internal auditors focus on the internal control systems and performance of their agency.

CoA’s role is to hold agencies accountable for the proper use of public funds.

Email: arturobesana2@gmail.com