Three workshops on audit and ethics scheduled for this month

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — The Graduate School USA, with funding support from the U.S Interior Department and in conjunction with the ASG Territorial Audit Office is conducting later this month, three-days of training on audit and ethics for certain ASG personnel.

Gov. Lemanu P.S Mauga announced the training workshops to be held at Gov. Rex Lee Auditorium, in a Jan. 5 memorandum to cabinet members, and outlined the specific ASG personnel expected to attend.

The first workshop set for Jan. 24 focuses on “Assessing Controls for Government Employees” and participants will be mainly deputy directors, chief financial officers, finance managers, accountants, and finance personnel, the governor explained.

Summary information of the training states that after successful completion of this workshop, participants will:

•           Recognize what internal controls are and their uses.

•           Apply the revised Government Auditing Standards guidance for considering controls in planning an audit.

•           Integrate an assessment of controls in the survey phase.

•           Plan an audit to assess controls, including development of objectives and selection of the scope and methodology to achieve objectives.

•           Document internal control assessments.

•           Develop and report findings on control deficiencies.

According to the training information summary, participants must complete the Assessing Controls for Government Employees course to enroll in the Assessing Controls in Performance Audits course — which is the second training workshop set for Jan. 25.

And participants will be mainly auditors with the Territorial Audit Office and any interested participant from the previous day’s course, according to the governor’s memo.

This workshop will cover similar material applicable to their field as the first course.

The third and final training workshop is on “Ethical Decision-Making for Government Employees” set for Jan. 26. Participants will be all Ethics Officers of ASG.

After the successful completion of this course, participants will be able to:

•           Anticipate and recognize ethical dilemmas as well as distinguish right vs. wrong temptations from the right vs. right ethical hazards and dilemmas that officials face in their work

•           Select, describe, and use the appropriate ethical decision-making process from a survey of widely accepted models

•           Describe the causes of unethical behavior and methods of discouraging that behavior

•           Mitigate the internal and external inhibitors to carrying out decisions when there are potential risks involved

•           Help establish an ethics control system in an organization.

According to the governor’s memo, the ethics training course could have a much larger audience.

The governor informed cabinet members that each day of training will be an 8-hour course and participants will receive eight CPE credits for each completed course.

Furthermore, the Governor’s Legal Counsel, Terry VanEaton will serve as a local resource to support the training delivery.

Lt. Gov. Talauega Eleasalo Ale will deliver the opening remarks on the first day, while Attorney General Fainuulelei Falefatu Alailima-Utu will open the Ethics officers training.

The governor called on cabinet members to ensure that all deputy directors, finance managers, and all ASG personnel working with procurement, payment, accounting processes, and all relevant ASG personnel, “register and participate in these valuable training opportunities.”

Instructor for the workshops is Drummond Kahn who serves on the faculty of the Graduate School USA, training auditors and financial managers in the U.S. and overseas.