Press Release

Ms. Betsy Cohn Presents Two Audit Training Courses

USDA Graduate School and Pacific Island Training Initiative (PITI) funded a week-long audit training for the FSM Office of the National Public Auditor. The event was held at the COM-FSM National Campus in Palikir from September 1 to 5, 2008. Specifically, there were two audit courses presented during the training entitled Audit Evidence & Working Papers and Writing Value-added Audit Reports. Ms. Betsy Cohn from USDA Graduate School was the instructor.

According to the Government Auditing Standards (GAS), auditors have to maintain professional competence by earning 80 continued professional education (CPE) hours every 2 years. The recent audit courses provided an opportunity for the FSMOPA audit staff to earn their CPE hours without having to travel abroad.

The objectives of Audit Evidence & Working Papers were to help the auditors identify and apply GAS that pertain to audit evidence and documentation. Specifically, they were to describe the types, tests and sources of evidence, how evidence is collected and documented and apply the methods of collecting and recording evidence to assure competence and to satisfy the audit objectives. In addition, the second course enabled the auditors to describe the stages of the writing process, the techniques to create readable audit reports and the roles of the audit elements.

The training was attended by the entire audit staff from the Office of the National Public Auditor including staff from the Chuuk Field Office as well as all the audit staff from the Pohnpei State Office of the Public Auditor. We extend our appreciation to USDA Graduate School and PITI in Honolulu for funding the courses and to Betsy for teaching the courses.