László Domokos, President of the State Audit Office of Hungary handed over the 2017 SOLIDUS Awards at the Opening Conference of the fourth International Integrity Seminar on 27 February 2017. The award founded last year was given to Helena Abreu Lopes, Judge of the Court of Auditors of Portugal and Dr. Margit Horváth, Supervisory Manager of SAO this year. SOLIDUS Award may be granted to those natural persons who have contributed through their outstanding activities to the achievement of the objectives of the State Audit Office of Hungary, the performance and development of its activities, the fulfilment of its constitutional role and the enhancement of its social prestige.
One of the awarded, Helena Abreu Lopes has been judge and member of the court of the SAI of Portugal since 2007. Furthermore, she is responsible for coordinating the participation of the Court of Auditors of Portugal in EUROSAI. Due to her duties, she supervised the implementation of the first Strategic Plan of EUROSAI between 2011 and 2014 and she chaired EUROSAI Goal Team 4 (Governance and Communication) during the Portuguese presidency of the EUROSAI Governing Board.
Related to the topic of the VIII EUROSAI Congress in 2011, the Governing Board of EUROSAI approved the establishment of the Task Force on Audit and Ethics (TFAE). The goal of TFAE is to promote ethical behaviour and integrity in SAIs and in public institutions. The Task Force operating with the active contribution of SAO Hungary, is led by the Court of Auditors of Portugal under the chairmanship of Helena Abreu Lopes. TFAE has several tangible results, such as studies, seminars and other publications. The Task Force is frequently and actively represented on several EUROSAI and INTOSAI events, fora, websites and in publications, thus promoting the importance of ethical behaviour and integrity in SAIs and public institutions.
Special emphasis should be laid on the cooperation between the Task Force on Audit and Ethics and EUROSAI Goal Team 1 (Capacity Building), resulting among others in the organisation of a EUROSAI conference on integrity in September 2016. Ms Lopes delivered a presentation on the activities of TFAE, she actively contributed to the discussion and she participated in the closing panel discussion as well. In an interactive workshop she led the discussion group dealing with the introduction of ISSAI 30. However, Helena Abreu Lopes plays an active role in the international auditing community outside EUROSAI as well. She coordinates the work of the Court of Auditors of Portugal in the INTOSAI Working Group on Public Procurement Audit, and she has carried out peer reviews with her colleagues at several partner institutions. As chair of the EUROSAI Task Force on Audit and Ethics, she played an important role in the ISSAI 30 Revision Team of INTOSAI as well.
It is exemplary how the Court of Auditors of Portugal and Ms Lopes contributed to the promotion of ethical conduct and integrity. With her active role in the EUROSAI Task Force on Audit and Ethics and her presentations held at international events she greatly contributed to raising awareness among SAIs about the importance of ethical conduct, to supporting the consideration of integrity aspects and to making available for SAIs the good practices and techniques for the practical implementation thereof. In her presentations she often highlighted that SAIs are not only guards of the accuracy of financial accounts, but also of good governance, thus justifying that a central issue for SAIs shall be the protection and audit of ethical principles.
Dr. Margit Horváth, Supervisory Manager has been working at the State Audit Office of Hungary for more than twenty years. During the decades spent at SAO, she has participated in various regularity and performance audits. Her ability to focus and her outstanding organisational skills during audits, the efficient and effective performance of her tasks soon yielded her assignment to head of department. The audit director actively contributed to the changes in the operation of SAO since 2010. She is among the few persons who were able to renew together with the organisation. As a recognition of her work, she was assigned to supervisory manager in 2012.
With her findings in audit reports, Dr. Margit Horváth contributed to the more regular and effective operation of the systems of several entities. Her exceptional ability to express herself in writing and grasp the essence is perceptible in the preparation of audit reports and the clear drafting thereof. Thus, findings and recommendations could easily be implemented and they could be controlled during follow-up audits. With her activity, she facilitated the efficient utilisation of public funds. Since 2011, she has actively contributed to the renewing of audits in the field of financial audits and during the preparation of SAO’s opinion on the budget bill. Under her direction, methodology reforms were launched which are still in progress. Due to her assistance, the evaluation of the operation and role of internal controls became a priority in the audit activity of SAO.
In 2014, audits on the regular operation of enterprises in a majority ownership of local governments started. Dr. Margit Horváth has supervised nearly a hundred of such audits. With her activity, she contributed to the internal and external utilisation of audit reports, and to the renewal of their appearance and structure. The so-called “good practices” conferences provided support for the forward-looking solution of problems revealed during audits. Instead of highlighting deficiencies, the main motive of these events was the presentation of good practices to be followed. In this light, Dr. Horváth supported the professional credibility of SAO with her high-standard presentations held at several conferences.
We congratulate to the awarded!
Department of Communication and Institutional Relations
