Reference Panel

The FAS Secretariat, on behalf of the Subcommittee asks all Heads of Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) of INTOSAI to nominate their best and brightest financial auditors to contribute in the important work of developing Financial Audit Guidelines for the public sector in cooperation with the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) and its International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB).

There are currently 112 experts from 60 countries worldwide nominated as part of the Reference Panel. It is the hope and ambition of FAS to have experts on the Reference Panel representing different systems and cultures in order to facilitate the work to make the standards internationally applicable and acceptable.

The experts participate and contribute their particular expertise without representing their own organization, but with the ambition to reflect the interests of all of INTOSAI. This is a very challenging task and the Project Secretariat does its best to facilitate this work.

Reference Panel meeting in Stockholm, Sweden in January 2008 with delegates from Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, Uganda, Indonesia, Pakistan, Azerbaijan, Slovak Republic, Kazakhstan, Norway, Malaysia, South Africa, the Philippines, the IAASB, Estonia and Costa Rica.

Reference Panel – roles and responsibilities

Experts from the Reference Panel are appointed to participate in IAASB Task Forces and in INTOSAI Special Expert Teams. Experts can also be appointed to participate in the Focus Group, the Court of Accounts Expert Group or any other expert group identified as needed for the development of the guidelines by the FAS.

IAASB Task Forces

Experts appointed to participate in IAASB Task Forces, both with the adaptation of existing ISAs and with the production of new ISAs shall contribute with public sector considerations in order to make the ISAs applicable, as far as possible, in the public sector, thereby minimising the need for further work on INTOSAI’s Guidelines for Financial Audit.

The experts shall also support the FAS Director by preparing Practice Notes for the ISAs to which they have contributed in their work with IAASB. The experts will present the results of their work to the Project Secretariat through a report and may be called to FAS meetings to present their work.

For details regarding INTOSAI participation in IAASB Task Forces, please refer to the most recent Quarterly Performance Report from FAS. 

INTOSAI Practice Special Expert Teams

In order to develop Practice Notes to ISAs, where the IAASB is not likely to set up Task Forces during the coming years, FAS sets up INTOSAI Special Expert Teams (SET) consisting of 4-5 audit experts from different countries. Each SET is given the task of developing PNs to 2-5 ISAs, which have been grouped together based on relationship. The experts meet and work concentrated together for a number of days to produce a set of draft Practice Notes which can be polished and finalized via internet meeting facilities, e-mail and telephone conferences. In order to achieve a quick process, the secretariat will participate in these meetings and do all the drafting. The teams will also be assisted by back-office experts, but they will not be asked to present any reports on progress. They may however be called to FAS meetings to present the work undertaken.

For details regarding INTOSAI work in Special Expert Teams please refer to the most recent Quarterly Performance Report from FAS.

Reference Panel Meeting, Stockholm January 2008 

• List of participants 
• Summary of group discussions 
• Photographs

For further information

Terms of Reference - Reference Panel

Terms of Reference - Back-office Experts

Terms of Reference - Special Expert Team

Terms of Reference - INTOSAI Expert in IAASB Task Force

Terms of Reference - Specific Expert Group

CV Form

(24-01-2011)