National Audit Department of Malaysia in collaboration with GIZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit), a German agency which handles international cooperation and Asian Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions (ASOSAI) had organised a seminar on “Strategic Relations of SAIs with the Institutional Environment” from 6th to 8th March 2012 at Auditorium Ahmad Noordin, National Audit Academy. The objective of the seminar was to gain an overview on different strategic relationships Supreme Audit Institutions (SAI) have with their institutional environment, in particular the relationship between Public Accounts Committees (PAC), Anti-Corruption Commission, Ministry of Finance, public and media. The seminar was attended by 38 participants comprising of PAC Chairmen, Ministry of Finance and Anti-Corruption Commission representatives and auditors from nine Southeast Asia countries: Cambodia, Lao PDR, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

The seminar was inaugurated by His Excellency Tan Sri Dato’ Setia Ambrin Buang, Auditor General of Malaysia. It was divided into four sessions encompassing an overview of the role and mandate of PAC Malaysia, two panel discussions and one paper presentation related to cooperation and coordination between the Ministry of Finance and SAIs. The participants were also divided into groups to share their experiences and discuss the lessons learnt from the seminar. On whole, the seminar provided a good
platform for knowledge sharing while depicting the importance of strategic relationship of SAIs with their institutional environment in strengthening good governance.