QNA
A conference on the role of governance in activating control systems in government entities and rationalizing expenditures began today via video conference technology, with the participation of the Administrative Control and Transparency Authority (ACTA) in cooperation with the Qatar Association of Certified Public Accountants.
The conference attracted speakers from the ACTA and the Qatar Association of Certified Public Accountants, in addition to experts from international institutions and bodies in the field of governance.
During the one-day conference, discussions focused on the critical importance of governance and the effective application of its principles in accordance with the highest international standards and the best sound professional practices in order to establish the rules of transparency and accountability in activating supervision in government agencies and rationalizing expenditures.
The conference also discussed several topics on governance procedures and their importance in the public sector, introduction of best practices in this field and exchange of experiences related to them, highlighting their impacts on achieving the principle of accountability, activating the supervisory role and fighting corruption through adherence to laws and regulations and achieving the principle of integrity and transparency in managing public money and state resources.
In a speech at the opening of the conference, President of the ACTA H E Hamad bin Nasser Al Misnad said that governance is an integrated system that requires developing and implementing standards for participation, the rule of law, transparency and integrity in a way that leads to the effectiveness and efficiency of institutions, including the efficiency of these institutions in collecting their resources as well as in rationalizing their expenditures.
This, in turn, requires internal and external control, and therefore the development of governance systems must be comprehensive and subject to periodic evaluation to assess the extent of its effectiveness, he said, noting the need to develop control theories in particular, and the need to abandon the old theories of control that focus on catching errors and adopting modern systems of control that focus on tracking the sources of defects and providing solutions to them in a way that serves the higher goals of the State and the institution.
Strengthening governance systems and their applications, including the role of governance in activating control systems in government agencies and rationalizing expenditures, is a continuous and renewed matter that does not stop at a specific limit, and every day witnesses new development at the international level, which requires persistent and continuous work to keep pace with global developments in this field, he added.
In his speech, President of the Qatar Association of Certified Public Accountants Dr. Hashim Al Sayed thanked the ACTA for their cooperation in organizing the conference, indicating that this comes within the Authority’s efforts to achieve the highest indicators of integrity and transparency in the field of public service and combating corruption in all its forms to maintain the leadership of the State of Qatar in this field at the regional and international levels, adding that the association is keen to organize such events in accordance with its objectives, which include holding conferences, seminars and training courses, enhancing cooperation and exchanging knowledge and experiences with national, regional and international bodies and organizations.
He pointed to the importance of governance as a basic pillar to ensure the development of government agencies and to make rational decisions that take into account the requirements and expectations of all stakeholders and beneficiaries of government sector services, adding that developing integrated work systems, defining responsibilities and frameworks and adhering to them lay the right foundations for good governance and management and promote a culture of excellence and creativity.
Director of the Control and Transparency Department Amal Al Kuwari reviewed the efforts of the ACTA in the application of governance, through several axes, including the definition of the principles of governance, the goals of governance in the public sector, the application of governance in the ACTA, the national framework for integrity and transparency, and the ranking of the State Qatar in the World Bank’s Governance Index. Ahmad Tarteer, Member of the Board of Directors of the ACAMS, presented a paper entitled “The international context of governance”, in which he addressed the difference between the public sector and the private sector in the application of governance, the functions of the board of directors, the role of oversight committees, and governance assessments.
