(Majuro, RMI) Palau’s Public Auditor Saturnino Tewid, with his colleague from Kosrae’s Office of Public Auditor, are in the Marshall Islands conducting a peer review of the Republic of the Marshall Islands Office of Public Auditor.
“It is a requirement under the Government Auditing Standards for the organization conducting audits to be reviewed by peers and peers that are independent of the organization being reviewed,” said Public Auditor Tewid in an interview.
“After we complete the review, we provide our report and recommendation to the audited organization, and after they provide their response to the recommendations we made, we then finalize and submit our review. This is important as auditors to be able to show that our peers have independently reviewed us,” added Tewid.
According to the United States Government Accounting Office (GAO), “Government Auditing Standards require that each organization conducting engagements in accordance with these standards must obtain an external peer review. The objectives of a peer review are to determine whether (1) the reviewed audit organization’s system of quality control is suitably designed and (2) the organization is complying with its quality control system so that it has reasonable assurance that it is performing and reporting in conformity with professional standards and applicable legal and regulatory requirements in all material respects. Peer reviews of Offices of Inspector General (OIGs) must be conducted by reviewers independent of the audit organization being reviewed at least once every three years in accordance with guidance established by the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency.”