LAHORE, Feb 20: The Pakistan Audit Department has put forward a proposal to their Indian counterparts for creating a ‘professional neighbourhood’ in the areas of training and research.

The idea was the concluding part of a presentation on the training establishments of the Pakistan Audit Department, given to Comptroller and auditor-general of India Vijayendra N Kaul during a visit to the Audit and Accounts Training Institute here on Monday.

Mr Kaul was accompanied by deputy comptroller and auditor-general of India N R Rayalu and International Relations Principal director P R Acharya.

Collaboration between Indian and Pakistani training institutes would enable the auditors, accountants and managers of the two neighbouring states to share their experiences and to learn from one another, Audit and Accounts Training Institute (AATI) director-general Tariq Ali Shah said in the presentation.

This would also help the professionals of the two countries to achieve the goals of a better financial system, minimise wastage and misuse and ensure efficient and effective utilisation of public funds.

The beneficiaries of the AATI, Mr Shah said, had been the audit and accounts officers of Pakistan’s federal, provincial and district governments besides the officials of supreme audit institutions of other countries.

Over 1,000 officers belonging to 30 or so countries have so far received training in diversified areas of learning. A recent workshop, sponsored by the Asian Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions, on ‘dealing with fraud and corruption in auditing’ was attended by 30 officers from 15 countries.

The five-week 62nd international intensive training programme in performance auditing, participated in by 22 officers from nine countries, concluded here on Saturday last, he said.

Explaining the national and international training programmes of his institute, Mr Shah said the Pakistan Institute of Public Finance Accountants (PIPFA) programme comprised professional establishments like the ICMAP, the ICAP and the Auditor-General’s office. The PIPFA criterion to determine competence of departmental officials for making them assistant audit and accounts officers was acknowledged by the World Bank and recognised by the International Federation of Accounts, Mr Shah said. The aim had been to promote general good governance by becoming a centre of excellence in delivery of capacity-building services to managers of accounting, auditing and financial management functions in the public sector.

Senior officers of the auditor-general’s department were also present at the presentation after which Mr Kaul took a round of the AATI and met the participants in the 32nd specialised training programme.