The Audit Operations Committee (AOC)

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The audit operations committee (AOC) was established to enable African Union (AU) Board of Auditors (BoA) to discharge its mandate in compliance with Article 78 of the AU Financial Rules and Regulations. The AOC shall comprise five directors of audit appointed by each member of the board and Executive Secretary to the board as an ex-officio member

In accordance with Article 76 of the African Union Financial Rules and Regulations (FRRs), the Board of External Auditors (BoEA) is required to audit the accounts of the African Union (African Union Commission (AUC) and AU organs). The audit is required to be conducted in conformity with the International Standards on Auditing.

In addition, Article 78(1) (d) provides for the Board to make observations with respect to the efficiency of the financial management, including the accounting system, the internal controls and, in general, the administration and management of the Organization, especially with regard to “internal liaisons between the various authorities responsible for the framing, preparation and administration of the annual budget”.

Furthermore, Article 81(1) requires that the Board to submit its reports to the Sub Committee of the PRC on Audit matters.

The Audit Operations Committee (AOC) is an operations committee of the Board established under Rule 26 of the Rules and Procedures of the AU BoEA. The AOC is responsible for ensuring that the audits are conducted in compliance with International Standards on Auditing (Rule 46 of RP of the AU BoEA).

Rule 47 of the Rules and Procedures of the AU BoEA requires the AOC to ensure the quality of the Board’s reports, by ensuring that they are subjected to peer review during the AOC meeting.

The objective of the AOC review meeting is to ensure that the audits of the financial statements of the AUC and the AU Organs are conducted by the Lead Auditors in accordance with International Standards on Auditing, and that the audits resulted into quality management letters and audit reports.

In addition, the AOC intends to obtain reasonable assurance that all significant matters raised in the management reports regarding the financial statements are reported on correctly in the audit reports in order to obtain approval and signing off of the audit reports by the BoEA.

Furthermore, the AOC ensures that reporting requirements in regard to the financial statements are complied with in accordance with Article 71 of the AU FRR, to include all financial statements: statement of financial position; statement of financial performance; statement of changes in net assets/equity; cash flow statement; a comparison of budget and actual amounts; and the accompanying notes to the accounts.

The AOC also ensures that the financial statements are prepared in accordance with International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) as adopted by the AU.

REVIEW METHODOLOGY

In accordance with the Rules and Procedures of the AU BoEA, each Lead Auditor circulates draft management letter and audit report to all members of the AOC (Rule 28), including, a summary of the audit working paper file indicating materiality, summary of key misstatements.
The draft reports from each Lead Auditor were deliberated upon, and consensus agreement reached on key decisions in accordance with Rule 27.
Lead Auditors were given opportunity to amend the reports to the decisions and guidance given by the AOC. These adjustments were then checked by the Chair and reports forwarded to the Secretariat for final translation and printing.
In addition, each Lead Auditor shared the experiences and challenges encountered during audits, which were captured and the way forward equally agreed upon.

MEMBERS OF THE AUDIT OPERATIONS COMMITTEE