PRESIDENT'S REPORT-2012 ANNUAL NATIONAL CONVENTION cum SEMINAR

GUNDELBERTO B. AZANZA

The Honorable  Paolo Benigno  “Bam” Aquino IV, Honorable  Dan Neri Lim represented by Vice Mayor Nuevas Tirol Montes, Dr. Ronald V. Amorado, past and incumbent Directors of the Association of Government Internal Auditors, Inc., my beloved colleagues and fellow workers in the government service, ladies and gentlemen, a joyful and blessed good afternoon to everyone.

TUNAY NA PAGKAKAISA TUNGO SA MATUWID NA DAAN!

We, AGIANS, should commit to the righteous and straight path that the administration of His Excellency President BENIGNO S. AQUINO III is vigorously pursuing .  Hence, to be able to perform this crucial and sacred role efficiently and effectively, first,  we must be more responsive, organized, competent, knowledgeable and sensitive  in our chosen profession, as Internal Auditors; second, we must be reliable partners and vanguards of   promoting transparency, integrity, ethical practices, good governance and stronger accountability in public service; and lastly, we must practice the supreme importance of unity of purpose of doing our best  for the betterment of our beloved Philippines.

Our theme for this year’s  convention: “Strengthening Partnership Towards Synergy, Transparency and Accountability”, is indeed very timely, appropriate and absolutely essential.

In order to Strengthen Partnership Towards Synergy, Transparency and Accountability, please allow me to  share with you  our research  about ANTS.  Ants are creatures of little strength, yet they store up their food during  summer and also gather them at harvest. Man was created with more understanding than the ANTS.  But our minds are so corrupted by our apostasy to God that these meanest creatures may become our teachers.  The life expectancy of an ant is 45-60 days only.  Yet, these tiny creatures accomplish much in their short life-span.

I. THE ANTS TEACH US PERFORMANCE.

Internal Auditors  should perform well.  On our part,  AGIA is doing its best to train us through its various relevant, needed and updated seminars/trainings for us to be more competent in our assigned tasks.  We also encourage you to attend other trainings and seminars, like: PGIAM trainings and IIAP trainings, including trainings and seminars that are not being offered by AGIA.  It is also advisable, that we share experiences in the field to our fellow auditors, provided, we do not go to specifics that we name names or relate critical findings and sacrifice confidentiality.

A.  To perform with efficiency there must be a plan of action.

Ants  are  always  busy, never lazy, and the good thing in them, they have a plan.  We   must have a plan,  and be as wise as ants.  We must seriously consider the future of our country for the benefit of our children and grandchildren.

B.  To perform with efficiency there must be participation.

1.   Every ant has an important part to be done, and no one has to tell them what it  is… and no one has to push them to do it.

As Internal Auditors, we need to participate in the anti-corruption drive of our government and not be  complacent

2.   Ants always work together.  They are so busy doing what they are supposed to do, that they don’t have time for jealousy and fighting.  We must always work together in harmony and avoid jealousy and in fighting.

3.  All of them are responsible ANTS. 

We must be responsible internal auditors and not auditors for the luxury of position.

C.  To perform with efficiency there must be peace.

One  of the reasons that ants can get so much accomplishment despite their size  and  in  such a short span of time is because of harmony.

Peace among us is very important in order to have synergy in all our activities for good.

II.   THE ANTS TEACH US PARTNERSHIP.

A.  They have  solidarity

1. The ant colony is a community.   
2. They build these colonies sometimes to a depth of 35 feet below the ground... it is like a city for ants.
3.  In  these  colonies  there  are  complex  buildings  with rooms for various activities.
4. They all live together in this colony. You very seldom see an ant by itself.
5. They live together as a family and work together as a team to get done what needs to be done.

As  Internal  Auditors  we should work together as a team to get done what needs to be done, and for the common good.  We have to work together, and pull together.   

B.  They have sharing of resources.

They share their food, their facilities, and even look after and take care of each other’s young.  If  requested, as Internal  Auditors  we  should  share our knowledge and experiences with  fellow Auditors to be able to help each one and not be selfish. 

C. They support each other according to one’s assigned task.

We  should support each other in doing what is best for our country.

III. THE ANTS TEACH US PREPAREDNESS.

Many of those ants who work  hard all day will never eat of the food they are preparing because they will die before the cold weather… but they want to make certain that their families are taking care of.

We,  Internal  Auditors,  should  do much better than what the ants do.  

1.  We must make sure that our families will be taken care of in the future if something should happen to us.
2.  We must spend our money and time wisely in preparation for the rainy days of recession,  inflation, ill health, and old age.               

IV. THE ANTS TEACH US PERSEVERANCE.

Ants have an amazing ability to survive all kinds of weather.
1. They adapt well no matter what the circumstances are, and are very resilient.
2. When their homes and possessions are completely destroyed, the ants begin to rebuild them immediately.
3. The Ants are not quitters.  They persevere.

When troubles, problems and testing come, we, Internal Auditors, should not give up, instead, we must   persevere.

2012 CONVENTION TOPICS

We have invited well known and seasoned speakers to speak on very relevant Convention Topics as follows:

§  Good Governance and its Sustainability

§  Leadership in the Work Environment

§  Best Practices in Internal Auditing

§  Anti-Red Tape

§  Province of Bohol Best Practiceson Transparency and Good Governance

§  Moral Values in Internal Auditing

§  Anti-Corruption Advocacy

§  Disaster Preparedness and Management

§  Records Management

§  Accountability of Internal Auditors

Major Accomplishments from January 1, 2012 to September 30, 2012 with the able assistance  and wholehearted support of my fellow AGIA Directors and Staff.

Ø  REVISED AGIA BY-LAWS.

You can download this in our AGIA website.

Ø  AGIA COMPUTERIZED BOOKKEEPING AND ACCOUNTING SYSTEM.

Our Bookkeeping and Accounting System is  now computerized. We can now produce  financial  reports  with  lesser time, effort, money  and manpower.

Ø  REVISION OF AGIA’S CODE OF ETHICS.

This is  printed in our souvenir program.

Ø INTRODUCTION OF NEW AGIA SEMINAR TOPIC - Auditing Infrastructure Projects.

Ø  PARTIAL RENOVATION OF AGIA’S OFFICE AT NEW MANILA, QUEZON CITY.

Almost all of our AGIA Regular and Special  Board Meetings  are now held in this office, considerably reducing our expenses for board meetings.

Ø  INCREASE IN THE NUMBER OF PARTICIPANTS IN OUR SEMINARS/TRAININGS

Participants from 1,599 in 2005 increased to 1,934 in 2011(Please refer to the separate President’s Prezi presentation with slides).

Ø  PARTICIPANTS PROFILE FOR  SEMINARS CONDUCTED FROM 2005 – 2011.

NGAs are Topnotchers with a total of 916 in 2011, followed by LGUs 394, GOCCs/GFIs of 351 and SUCs of 273 (Please refer to the separate President’s Prezi presentation with slides).        

Ø  PARTICIPANTS PROFILE FOR  REGULAR SEMINARS CONDUCTED.
(January to September) COMPARATIVE 2012 VS. 2011

You will note that participants increased to 1,495 in 2012 as against 1,391 in 2011(Please refer to the separate President’s Prezi presentation with slides).

Ø  IN HOUSE SEMINARS CONDUCTED (January-September 2012).
(Please refer to the separate President’s Prezi presentation with slides).

Ø  TOP 5 MOST ATTENDED  SEMINARS January-September. Comparative 2012 vs. 2011 (Please refer to the separate President’s Prezi presentation with slides).

Ø  UPDATING OF AGIA’S WEBSITE - We regularly update our WEBSITE.

Ø  CONTINUATION OF AGIA’s  AWARDS & INCENTIVES PROGRAM.

We encourage everyone to follow our procedures in our WEBSITE on this matter and recommend AGIANs who deserve to be given awards & incentives.

AGIA’S SOUND FINANCIAL CONDITION

Ø  STATEMENT OF OPERATIONS - January to September 2012.

You will note that  from January to September 2012 net income increased to P803,414.98. (Please refer to the separate President’s Prezi  presentation with slides).

Ø  STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL CONDITION - COMPARATIVE 2012 vs. 2011.

Please take note also that our total assets increased by 1,350,906.06 in 2012.  Again, I million of this is  invested in established banks like LPB, BPI, BDO and Metrobank in an IMA investment which yields a much higher interest rate than  what is regular or time deposit rate. (Please refer to the separate President’s Prezi presentation with slides).

ON GOING NEGOTIATION REGARDING:

Ø  THE  ROLE  OF  AGIA IN THE ROLE-OUT OF PGIAM.

Lately, we had several meetings with DBM/IAS-OP.  Hence, even DES BERNARDO of IAS/OP, in one of these meetings, agreed to be our AGIA Adviser and agreed to meet us quarterly on this matter.

Ø  RENEWAL OF MOA WITH IIA.

We just finalized last October 2, 2012 our MOA with IIAP.

Ø  ACCREDITATION WITH OMBUDSMAN AS A CORRUPTION PREVENTION UNIT.

We are preparing all the requirements for submission to OMBUDSMAN, for us to be accredited as a Corruption Prevention Unit.

Ø  ACCREDITATION  WITH CSC AS A TRAINING INSTITUTION.

We are preparing all the requirements for submission to CSC, for us to be accredited as a Training Institution.

PLANS AND PROGRAMS

Ø  Installation of AGIA Data Base.

We have posted in our WEBSITE invitation to  interested parties to submit  their proposals on the installation of a comprehensive data base.

Ø  Professional Certification for Government Internal Auditors.

We have an ongoing negotiation with CSC, and we will ask, our Keynote Speaker, Senator Antonio F. Trillanes IV to propose/sponsor a bill in the Senate on this matter.

Ø  LGU Mobile Training.

This is one of our priorities in the last quarter of 2012 and onwards.

Ø  Purchase  of  Lot and Eventually Construction  of AGIA’s Training Center by Tapping Local/ForeignAids for Additional Funds.

We are looking for a lot within Metro-Manila with an area of 500 to 1,000 square meters where our AGIA Training Center will be built, hopefully during my term.

Ø  Training  of  AGIA  Directors and Speakers as PGIAM Trainors.

This is one of our proposals with DBM/IAS-OP during our meetings.

Let us hold our hands and please follow after me by reading these:

AGIA PARA SA TUNAY NA PAGKAKAISA TUNGO SA MATUWID NA DAAN UPANG
MAGKAROON NG PATULOY NA KAUNLARAN ANG MAMAYANG PILIPINO.

-FOR-

“IN UNITY, THERE IS STRENGTH AND GOD’S BLESSING.”