Revista-Fiscalizando-26-ingles.pdf

Revista

09th May 2022

FISCALIZANDO
Journal
N° 26

Editorial
Dear readers,
The year 2020 will surely go
down in history as the year
that has brought the most
pain to families around the world, with 91 million infections and almost 2
million deaths due to the Nelson Shack Yalta
President of OLACEFS
Office of the Comptroller General of the Republic of Peru
Covid-19 pandemic. This scenario has demanded
from our SAIs the deployment of their best efforts for
an adequate oversight and control in the use of
public goods and funds, within the framework of
unprecedented emergency programs that all
governments have carried out to contain the pandemic and reactivate the economy. In this sense, the research that has been carried out
in governmental control and public audit is
contributing to the acquisition of new knowledge, in
addition to systematizing and disseminating the experiences of our peers with respect to the courses
of action in the face of the pandemic and in other areas of society.
Thus, this edition of the Fiscalizando Journal, in order
to promote the exchange of experiences and best practices, brings various topics related to
information technology, citizen participation, health systems and pandemics, disaster risk management, open data, integrity, public works, among others.
Considering the context we have experienced this
year, I thank the SAIs that have submitted their
contributions and congratulate the winners of the
2019 research competitions, who have sent us the
summaries of the work they have carried out with
great professionalism, a characteristic that highlights the work of OLACEFS members.
CONTENTS Editorial Research articles 2019 CAJ Contest 2019 CTPBG Contest
The contents and opinions of the
articles published in the
Fiscalizando Journal are the sole responsibility of their authors.
2 3 4673
Reproduction of the contents of this publication is permitted, in whole or
in part, as long as its contents are not altered, the source is cited and it is not for profit.
Production, coordination
and layout
Presidency of OLACEFS

Fiscalizando Journal Nª 26 / Research articles
SYSTEM FOR THE AUDIT PROCESS (WEBIRAF)
Authors:
Tania de la Caridad Fuentes Mota Pedro González VitónSAI Cuba
Abstract: This paper addresses a topic
of great importance in our country, and
in particular for the Office of the
Comptroller General of the Republic of
Cuba (CGR). Computer systems
support the work of Supreme Audit
Institutions (SAI), it is undeniable that
the use of Information and
Communication Technologies (ICT) can
bring certain advantages, such as
greater and better use of time, ease of
teamwork, more motivation and
interest to develop tasks, increases the
efficiency and quality of audits, in
addition these tools allow the filtering of
100 percent of transactions, enabling
the auditor to focus on the application
of his professional judgment for the
analysis of those possible anomalies
identified. The general regulations that
support the methodological basis of the
Webiraf System were analyzed, taking
into account the Cuban Auditing
Standards (NCA) updated from the
work carried out since the commitment
made with the Latin American
Organization of SAIs for the initiative of
implementation of the International
Standards of SAIs – 3i Program. Key words:
System, computer
tools, financial analysis, materiality, risk and sampling.
1 2 Likewise, its structure in menus and
options for each phase of the audit is
made known. Its design and application
guarantees the traceability of compliance
with the NCA, provides greater efficiency,
effectiveness and quality in its processes,
supports the auditor by being able to
corroborate the veracity and reliability of
the financial information disclosed in the
financial statements, as well as to detect
irregularities, errors and frauds, so the
Webiraf System is proposed as a support to auditors in the audit process.
Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting and Finance and Master’s Degree in Managerial Accounting at the Universidad
Central Marta Abreu de Las Villas, Postgraduate Degrees in “Basic Accounting”, “Cost Accounting”, “Qualifica-
tion of Auditors” and “Analysis of Financial Statements” at the National Association of Economists of Cuba, parti-
cipated in the X, XI and XII Sub-site Course “Audit and prevention tools in the fight against corruption” sponso-
red by the Office of the Comptroller General of the Republic of Cuba (CGR), research award for participation in
national and international events, related to information technology and auditing, from 1994 to 2000 she exer-
cised the activity of Accounting, she serves as an auditor from 2001 to date, Group Chief Auditor of the CGR since 2014.
Bachelor’s Degree in Economics Education at the José Martí Higher Pedagogical Institute in Camagüey, postgra-
duate degree in programming in database managers and financial auditing, Master’s Degree in Managerial
Accounting at the Ignacio Agramonte Loynaz University of Camagüey, trainer professor at the Training Center
of the Office of the Comptroller General of the Republic, central region, participation in the X, XI and XII Sub-si-
te Course “Audit and prevention tools in the fight against corruption” sponsored by the Office of the Comptroller
General of the Republic of Cuba, research award for participation in national and international events related to
information technology and auditing. Since 2012 he has served as chief auditor of the Provincial Comptroller’s
Office of Camagüey. 1
3
2
Introduction
The use of IT tools facilitates the
exhaustive review of databases and
analysis of financial information as an
indispensable measure in response to
fraud risks. The auditor’s challenge is to

use the benefits of technology, evolving
towards database reviews that allow him
to obtain greater coverage in his
verifications.
The auditor requires the necessary
information in the audit process, for
which it is difficult to perform the
calculations of the horizontal and vertical
analysis, the evaluation of the
economic-financial structure, also from
the behavior of different rates or
financial ratios to know the financial
situation linked to the principles of
economy, efficiency and effectiveness,
also to make the comparison of
indicators belonging to successive
periods, calculate the materiality,
perform the evaluation of Internal
Control and apply sampling techniques, among others.
It would be cumbersome and useless to
search and adjust each individual error,
if all these calculations are processed
manually, as it would take too much time
and there would be a risk of errors in them.
For all the above reasons, it is necessary
to use computer tools in the
performance of audits to ensure
traceability of compliance with the NCAs
by the auditors, provide greater
efficiency, effectiveness and quality in
the audit processes, and reduce the audit risk.
Based on the situation found, the
general objective is defined as: to
propose an audit system on a computer
base using free software oriented to
support the auditors, which guarantees
the application and traceability of the
NCAs in the audits and as specific
objectives to develop a system that enables: To evaluate the quantitative
and qualitative errors that occur in the
financial analysis, to make feasible the
identification of risks, as well as the
evaluation of the Internal Control
System of the subject to be audited, to
determine the materiality in the phases
of Planning, Conducting and Reporting of
the audit and to specify which items are
examined and the type of sampling, as
well as the audit procedures used, to meet the requirements of the evidence.
Development
To perform the financial analysis, the
auditor must consider that a large
number of ratios or indicators can be
calculated from a set of financial data.
But only some of them will be useful for
the diagnosis of a given situation, it is of
interest to define the meaning of each
one and choose those that can really be
relevant to the specific situation of the
subject to be audited and the objectives of the audit.
Furthermore, it is important to bear in
mind that, in most cases, no single ratio
provides sufficient information to be able
to appreciate in depth the
economic-financial situation of an entity.
Only through a set of ratios, which are
interrelated, can reasonable
approximations be achieved. According
to NCAs (2020): “(…) the auditor should
reduce the audit risk to an acceptably
low level given the circumstances of the
audit, in order to obtain reasonable
assurance on which to base the audit report and Opinion, as appropriate .
In addition, based on the audit
objectives and the collection of
information, the auditor identifies the
risks, areas or processes of major
Fiscalizando Journal Nª 26 / Research articles 4

importance linked to these objectives,
which allows the auditor to obtain a
general knowledge of the matter under
investigation, while at the same time
conducting a risk assessment to
determine the scope of the audit procedures carried out (…).”

In relation to the concept of materiality,
ISA 320 (2013) establishes in its
conceptual framework that: “(…) for the
preparation and presentation of financial
statements, information is required to
be material when its omission or
misstatement could influence the
economic decisions of users taken on the
basis of the financial statements.
Materiality depends on the amount of
the omitted item, or of the evaluation
error in its case, always judged within
the particular circumstances of the
omission or error. Thus, the role of
materiality is to provide a threshold or
cut-off point, rather than being an
overriding qualitative characteristic, that information must have to be useful.
Materiality is a matter of professional
judgment and depends on the auditor’s
interpretation of the needs of the
auditees; this judgment may relate to an
individual element or to a group of elements taken as a whole (…).”
According to the NCAs (2020): “(…)
audit sampling, which can be
quantitative and qualitative, is defined
as the application of audit procedures to
less than one hundred percent of the
items within an audit-relevant
population, such that all sampling units
have an opportunity for selection to give
the auditor a reasonable basis for what
conclusion to draw about the entire population (…)”
Structure of the Webiraf System
The Office of the Comptroller General of
the Republic of Cuba as SAI is immersed
in the computerization of the auditing
process, for this purpose it has been
developing the Webiraf System, the
structure of which is on a computer
base, which is conceived with the use of
an open code free software that offers
confidential personal data information,
allows solving possible vulnerability
problems with greater agility, provides
transparency on the operation of the
programs, optimizes public investment
since it is much cheaper economically to
face a massive installation or update of
open standards than proprietary ones, which allows working with different
financial accounting systems and with
technological independence, as well as
its stability that allows analyzing the
source code in a public way, which allows
optimizing the quality of free software applications.
Considering the analysis ease provided
by the system, it is a great support to
the auditor, as it can corroborate the
veracity and reliability of the financial
information presented in the financial
statements, obtained from the database
of the financial accounting system used
by the entity, as well as detect
irregularities, errors and fraud. However,
it should be emphasized that no
automated system replaces the auditor’s
professional judgment, which allows the
auditor to reach conclusions on
significant issues arising during the performance of the audit.
It presents a sequence of different
menus and options in the Planning,
Conducting and Reporting phases of the
audit, which guide the auditor through the audit process, as shown in Figure 1.
Fiscalizando Journal Nª 26 / Research articles 5

First of all, the Settings menu appears,
where the necessary information for the
operation of the system is obtained,
then there is the Audits menu where the
audits where the system has been used
are recorded, as well as the Capture
menu. See reference image No.1. Once the required information has been
captured, the system is ready to proceed
with its implementation, going through
options that have been developed in
accordance with the NCAs and other current regulations, detailed as follows:
Fiscalizando Journal Nª 26 / Research articles 6
Source: Prepared by the authors
Reference Image N° 1: Webiraf System start menu

Entity data: The essential aspects to
be considered are captured, taking
into account the provisions of the NCA.Database Queries: Allows different
queries to be made to the
information contained in the
database of the Financial Accounting
System used by the subject of the audit.
Financial analysis: It allows the
auditor to obtain a more accurate
judgment of the economic-financial
Fiscalizando Journal Nª 26 / Research articles 7
Datos de la entidad : Se procede a
captar aspectos esenciales a
considerar, teniendo en cuenta lo dispuesto en las NCA.
Consultas a la Base de Datos :
Permite realizar diferentes consultas
a la información contenida en la base
de datos del Sistema Contable
Financiero utilizado por el sujeto de la auditoría.
situation of the entity. See reference
image No.2 and 3.
Internal Control: I t enables the
auditor to substantiate the prior
assessment of the entity’s Internal
Control System, in addition to
obtaining a summary of the risks.
See reference image No.4 and 5.Materiality: Provides the auditor to
determine the level of materiality.
See reference image No.6.Sampling: This option allows the
selection of the sample to be audited.
The Planning menu has six options, such as:
Source: Prepared by the authors
Reference Image N° 3: Financial Analysis – Time Trend Graph
Source: Prepared by the authors
BALANCE SHEET

Fiscalizando Journal Nª 26 / Research articles 8

In the Report Drafting phase, the
option Report Materiality will be
available, which allows the auditor to
analyze the accounts that are material
to the report. See reference image
No.7.
At the end of the menu bar there is a Help that provides the auditor with
quick access to manuals and templates
for consultation if necessary. Likewise, the Exit and User menus appear, which
must be operated in order to close the
system correctly and thus avoid
damaging the information processed in
it, and finally, the latest changes made
to the system, taking into account the
updated version, can be visualized
through the What’s New menu. See
reference image No.8.
Fiscalizando Journal Nª 26 / Research articles 9
The Execution menu is divided into five
options, detailed as follows:
Work papers: The system facilitates
the auditor to prepare work papers that will become part of the audit file.
New materiality level: It allows
determining a new materiality level. Internal control: The evaluation
and qualification of internal control is
carried out for the aspects evaluated,
taking into account the assessment made in the planning phase.Adjustment Entries: Facilitates
making and leaving evidence of the
adjustment entries derived from
errors, irregularities or frauds
detected during the course of the audit process.
Adjusted Balances According to Audit: Taking into account the
adjustment entries, the entity’s Trial
Balance, Balance Sheet, Statement
of Financial Position, Statement of Financial Performance and
Economic-Financial Structure are obtained.
Reference Image N° 8: Menu Bar of the Webiraf System
Source: Prepared by the authors
Source: Prepared by the authors

Resolution 60. (2011) Standards of
the Internal Control System Internal
Control System, Office of the
Comptroller General of the Republic.
Official Gazette of the Republic of
Cuba. No 13. Havana. ISSN 1682-7511.
Resolution 76. 340 of 2011 Cuban
Auditing Standards Audit in its Annex
I, (2020). Office of the Comptroller
General of the Republic. Official
Gazette of the Republic of Cuba. No
18. Havana. ISSN 1682-7511.
Resolution 498. Specific Accounting
Standard No. 5 “Financial Statement
Forms for the business activity,
special treatment budgeted units and
the agricultural and non-agricultural
cooperative sector”, (2016) Ministry
of Finance and Prices. Official Gazette
of the Republic of Cuba. No 1.
Havana. ISSN 1682-7511.
Conclusions
For the CGR, the use of the Webiraf
System is an innovative IT tool that
makes it easier for auditors to face the
challenges posed by the use,
understanding and evolution of new
technologies to detect financial fraud,
and also provides them with greater
security in calculations when performing
the different financial analyses,
determining materiality, identifying
risks and evaluating the Internal Control
System of the subject to be audited, in
addition to specifying the items to be
examined to comply with the evidence requirements.
In the same way, the quality of the
audits is assured, reducing the time,
achieving efficiency and effectiveness in the control actions.
Bibliography
Fiscalizando Journal Nª 26 / Research articles 10
Resolution 31. Amends Resolution No.
498 of 2016 in Proforma EFE 5925 –
04 Statement of Investments, (2017)
Ministry of Finance and Prices. Official
Gazette of the Republic of Cuba. No
13. Havana. ISSN 1682-7511.
Resolution 499. Specific Accounting
Standard for the Budgeted Activity
No. 2 “Financial Statement Forms for
the Budgeted Activity”, (2016)
Ministry of Finance and Prices. Official
Gazette of the Republic of Cuba. No 1.
Havana. ISSN 1682-7511.
Resolution 30. Modifies Resolution
No. 499 of 2016 in the Proforma EFUP
5912 – 05 Statement of Investments,
(2017) Ministry of Finance and Prices.
Official Gazette of the Republic of
Cuba. No 14. Havana. ISSN 1682-7511
ISA 320. (2013) “Materiality in
Planning and Performing the Financial
Audit.”
http://www.icac.meh.es/NIAS/NIA32
0pdef.pdf accessed on 10/Aug/2020

Lawyer of the Courts and Tribunals of the Republic of Ecuador. Master’s Degree in “Prevention and Intervention in
Gender Violence”; Spain. National Director of Ethical Affairs, Citizen Participation and Linking of Priority Attention
Groups CGE – Ecuador. Chief Elected Councilor of the National Council for the Equality of Disabilities, (2017).
National Electoral Councilor, (first alternate, 2018). Elected Assemblywoman at provincial, national and
constitutional level, period 2007 to 2017. Social leader and national and international reference in the defense,
promotion and effective exercise of the rights of persons with disabilities.
Official Gazette No. 449, October 20, 2008.
Abstract: Based on the fact that in
recent years many efforts have been
made to promote citizen participation
and social control, and thus have
contributions of legitimacy and quality
in the audit processes carried out by
Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs). The
content of this article is based on
documentary analysis and on the
institutional experience of the Office of
the Comptroller General of the State of
Ecuador (CGE); particularly in the
implementation of an institutional policy
from the role of a Supreme Audit
Institution such as the CGE in citizen
involvement for the surveillance and
control of public management and
resources, based on the
complementarity approach between
governmental control and citizen control.
At the beginning of this document, the
national regulations that support citizen
participation from the scope of SAIs are
addressed in order to then elaborate on
the concepts of citizen participation,
social control and accountability as the
basis and foundation of why a SAI
promotes and develops citizen
promotion practices. Afterwards,
allusion is made to the creation and
management of the National Directorate
of Ethical Affairs, Citizen Participation
and Linkage of Priority Attention Groups, as a substantial element in the
implementation of an institutional policy
of citizen linkage in the exercise of
governmental control of the CGE, to finally reach a conclusion.
CITIZEN PARTICIPATION IN SAIs:
THE EXPERIENCE OF ECUADOR
Author:
María Cristina Kronfle Gómez SAI Ecuador
Desarrollo de la investigación
1 2
Fiscalizando Journal Nª 26 / Research articles
Key words: Citizen Participation,
social control, scrutiny,
accountability, integrity and citizen complaints.
11
1
1. Participación ciudadana
The main body of law that governs
Ecuador is the Constitution of the
Republic (CRE), which contains the
categorical commitment of the
Ecuadorian State to respect and enforce
the principles and rights guaranteed
therein under clear precepts of
unrenounceability, indivisibility and
interdependence of these, for the
benefit of their holders such as
individuals, communities, peoples,
nationalities and collectives of the
country. 2

provided in paragraph 3 of Article 212 of
the same and so often referred to
Fundamental Charter.
In this context, citizen participation is
conceived as a key element for
advancing democracy, improving social
cohesion and strengthening the public
sphere. Participation is seen as a
process of collective interaction and
communication that improves
coexistence and builds responsible
citizenship.
However, participation is not how much
one takes part, but how one takes part;
therefore, it is necessary to ensure that
the citizenry is not only an active part of
the processes carried out by an SAI, but
also that it is involved in all matters of
collective interest to improve the quality
of democracy with a focus on social inclusion.
Fiscalizando Journal Nª 26 / Research articles 12
In order to fulfill the defined objectives,
which have been adapted to the social
reality of Ecuador in its dogmatic part,
the CRE institutes in its organic part the
distribution of power among several
adequately structured bodies, thus
promising an appropriate control of the activities of the State.
Additionally, our Constitution in this part
highlights as a protagonist, in the same
way, citizen participation in the control
of the institutions that make up the
public administration.
Due to such organization of power, five
balanced and independent functions
have been established in Ecuador since
2018: LEGISLATIVE, EXECUTIVE,
JUDICIAL (plus the recognition of
indigenous justice), ELECTORAL and
TRANSPARENCY AND SOCIAL CONTROL
(FTCS). This last entity is the one called
upon to promote and encourage control
and fight corruption, on the one hand, it
tries to promote in public entities the
execution of actions full of
responsibility, transparency and equity
and, on the other hand, it promotes and
encourages the effective exercise of the
right and duty of citizen participation,
even more so with regard to the control
of public power.
An essential part of the FTCS is the
Office of the Comptroller General of the
State; this technical body is in charge of
controlling the use of state resources
and the achievement of the objectives
of state institutions and private legal
entities that have at their disposal
public resources in accordance with the
provisions of Article 211 of the
Constitution, and has powers such as
issuing the necessary regulations for
the fulfillment of its functions, as
2. Social control
Social Control is a process by which
citizens oversee, monitor, evaluate,
verify and follow up on the management
of a public or private institution that
manages public funds or matters of
public interest. Its objective is to make
recommendations and proposals aimed
at guaranteeing the transparent use of
resources, as well as the provision of
efficient public services for the common good.
Through Social Control, citizens can
exercise a critical function on the
behavior of public, state and non-state
agents in terms of general interests, it
becomes a mechanism of
communication and linkage between
the State and civil society. The greater
the autonomy of civil society in setting

the orientation and direction of
participation, the greater the probability
that the process will be more
substantive in its procedures, results
and impact. Social control is not a
purely technical process, but a living
process under continuous construction,
in which a plurality of actors can participate. 2.1 Benefits of Social Control
It contributes to ensure that public
resources are invested with maximum
transparency and effectiveness in
programs and projects that respond
with timeliness and quality to solve the
problems that affect the welfare and
quality of life of communities; it allows
for the democratization, transparency
and visibility of the relationship between
citizens and their authorities, with the
aim of building critical citizenship with a
deep sense of their duties in the construction and care of the public.
Governmental Accountability
Precisely, O’Donnell recognizes that the
effectiveness of accountability horizons,
pointing out that SAIs have a preventive
role, as long as they have sufficient
resources and are independent from the
executive (O’Donnell, 1998). Likewise,
he recognizes the importance of the
judiciary, at the “top” of the control
agencies, “since it is there that every
constitutional legal system closes” (p.
29). For his part, Peruzzotti (2002)
points out that among the forms of
accountability, social accountability: “is
a vertical control mechanism based on
the actions of a broad spectrum of
citizen associations and movements, as
well as media actions” (p. 32). This
proposal considers that through social
accountability, the actions of
government authorities and bureaucrats
can be politically and legally controlled
through public exposure of issues and
illegal acts. From this, it is possible to
ensure that governmental actions
correspond to citizens’ preferences
(Peruzzotti, 2002).
Fiscalizando Journal Nª 26 / Research articles 13
3.
Accountability should be understood as
a process of transparency and citizen
incidence in public management. In
recent years, accountability has gained
relevance in the public sphere,
particularly in the context of SAIs, due
to citizen demand for greater control
over government institutions. In other
words, several authors have contributed
to the understanding of the concept of
“accountability” (O’Donnell, 1998;
Peruzzotti, 2010), outlining new forms
of control of the democratic quality and
alluding to the efficiency of the public
sector, through the incorporation of new
social and governmental actors.
Experience of the Office of the
Comptroller General of the State, Ecuador
4.
The Office of the Comptroller General of
the State (CGE), through the creation of
the National Directorate of Ethics,
Citizen Participation and Priority Groups
Liaison (DNAEyPC), has institutionalized
a policy of ethics and integrity
management, both within the CGE and
towards external actors with whom this
institution relates, whether public
institutions, citizens and other control entities in the region and the world.

Beyond its creation and the fact that
this Unit has ethics management
competencies, the promotion of social
control, the promotion of transparency
and integrity, the linkage of priority
groups and coordination with the
Transparency and Social Control
Function, it has become a national and
international reference in the promotion
of a culture of public ethics and social
inclusion, from a Supreme Audit
Institution, since it develops important
programs and projects of: training,
citizen denunciation, linkage of priority
groups and integrity self-assessment.
With this background, the importance of
the DNAEyPC at the national and
international level lies in the possibility
of exchanging its experiences with other
SAIs in the region and positioning these
issues in the agendas of the
organizations that group SAIs, in
addition to becoming a space to
implement and validate global and
international proposals such as:
application of the Integrity
Self-Assessment Methodology (both
IntoSAINT and SAINT) and ISSAI 130, among others.
The role of this Unit is fundamental
since it takes these international
experiences and promotes their
execution in other instances at the
national level either through the
National Plan for Public Integrity and
Fight against Corruption 2019 -2023
(PNIPLCC) of the (FTCS), as well as in
the implementation of Citizen Networks in local GAD’s. Another fundamental and highly
qualified element of this Unit is the
approach of linking with priority
attention groups, since it allows us to
highlight the impact of state control
management on the improvement of
the quality of life of the most vulnerable
groups in societies, that is, to identify
and value the social role of SAIs. The
processes and projects executed by
DNAEyPC in this area are: Conformation
of Citizen Networks for Control of the
Appropriate Use of Public Resources,
Implementation of the Citizen
Surveillance Form, Methodology for
Institutional Accountability, Ethics and
Citizenship Courses for Responsible
Citizen Public Management and
Reception, analysis and treatment of
citizen complaints.
Fiscalizando Journal Nª 26 / Research articles 14
Complaint in the CGE. –
“Mechanism for citizen
participation to alert probable irregularities linked to
corruption in relation to public administration resources.”
4.1
Based on the powers provided for in its
Organic Law , and in accordance with its
work of auditing resources, the CGE has
issued the “Regulations for the
Presentation, Receipt and Processing of
Complaints for Administrative
Investigation in the Office of the
Comptroller General of the State” ,
giving light to the regulatory instrument
with clear objectives focused on
establishing requirements and
procedures for the presentation of
Organic Law of the Office of the Comptroller General of the State, Official Gazette Supplement No. 595, June 12, 2002.
Acuerdo No. 045-CG-2018, publicado en el Segundo Suplemento del Registro Oficial 321 de 6 de septiembre de 2018.
3 4 3
4

Bibliography
Fiscalizando Journal Nª 26 / Research articles 15
It is important to point out that the
aforementioned Regulation, in addition
to the Substitute Regulation for the
Classification of Reserved and
Confidential Information of the Office of
the Comptroller General of the State ,
establishes in articles 7 and 2 literal l),
respectively, that throughout the
procedure, the data and facts that have
been reported by the complainants in
good faith must be kept confidential, in
order to protect the physical,
psychological or material well-being of
those involved in the case.
Conclusion
Citizen participation creates
co-responsibility between citizens, public
institutions and government in defining
public policies and monitoring their
execution and results; integrating
citizens so that they participate in the
complete public policy cycle (debate,
decision, implementation and
evaluation) promotes an open,
horizontal and inclusive management
process; citizen involvement in
government auditing strengthens the
SAI’s level of effectiveness and should
be present throughout the audit cycle,
guaranteeing its transparency in order to
promote collective and pluralistic
debates for the common good and the defense of public assets.5
Agreement 005-CG-2017, subscribed on April 04, 2017, published in Official Gazette 992 of April 26, 2017.
5
Peruzotti, Enrique. 2010. The policy
of social accountability in Latin America, Buenos Aires.
O’Donnell, Guillermo. Horizontal
accountability and new polyarchies,
Spanish version: Accountability
horizontal, Ágora, 8.1998.
VARGAS, Jorge. ” Citizen audits on
the quality of democracy: a tool for
the identification of democratic
challenges”, in: O’Donnell, G.,
Iazzetta, O., and Vargas,J., (eds.)
Development, democracy and
citizenship, Editorial Homo Sapiens,
Buenos Aires,2003, in press. Quoted
in ALBERTO J. OLVERA, ERNESTO
ISUNZA VERA*: ” Accountability: the
theoretical foundations of a practice
of citizenship,
https://www.researchgate.net/public
ation/242310577_Rendicion_de_cue
ntas_los_fundamentos_teoricos_de_
una_practica_de_la_ciudadania (8-5-2020).

Abstract: This paper analyzes the Public
Health System of Guatemala, presenting
data from the Ministry of Public Health
and Social Assistance -MSPAS- and the
Guatemalan Institute of Social Security
-IGSS-. Emphasis is given to the
coverage and access to Public Health,
where the available Hospital Network by
department is presented; the number of
professionals that contribute to the
attention according to the number of
inhabitants, as well as the number of
people that have had access to Health
Services. It presents the actions of
MSPAS and IGSS to provide health
coverage in the face of the
epidemiological threat of Coronavirus
(COVID-19), where the implementation
of temporary hospitals that have arisen
due to the weakness of the Public Health
Network and the number of artificial
respirators available according to the
number of inhabitants are shown. It also
analyzes Sustainable Development Goal
3.8, which is the goal that provides
targets for improving health coverage
through indicators. A comparison is
made between the indicators proposed
by the United Nations and those
proposed by the Secretariat of Planning
and Programming of the Presidency
-SEGEPLAN-. Likewise, the strategic
audit action on the actions taken in
response to the epidemiological threat of
Coronavirus (COVID-19), by the
Supreme Audit Institution of Guatemala.
THE IMPORTANCE OF MEETING SUSTAINABLE
DEVELOPMENT GOAL 3.8 IN CONFRONTING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC
Fiscalizando Journal Nª 26 / Research articles
Key words: Health System,
Pandemic, COVID-19,
Coronavirus, Sustainable
Development Goals, National
Development Priorities, National
Development Plan K’atun: Our
Guatemala 2032, Supreme Audit Institution.
16
Authors:
José Antonio de León Ydigoras Marvin Antonio Berdúo Matzir SAI Guatemala
Analyst; Sectorial Technical Direction of Audit Guatemala; The Office of the General Comptroller of Accounts of
the Republic of Guatemala. Master in Economics and Quantitative Finance (Universidad Rafael Landívar).
Director, Sectorial Technical Directorate of Auditing Guatemala; The Office of the Comptroller General of
Accounts of the Republic of Guatemala. Master in Financial Administration (Universidad de San Carlos de
Guatemala). Public Accountant and Auditor (Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala). 1 2
1 2
Demographics
Guatemala has a territorial extension of
108,889 km2, is organized into eight
regions, twenty-two departments and
three hundred and forty municipalities,
14,901,286 inhabitants with a
population density of 150
inhabitants/km². In addition, the INE
projects that by 2019 there will be a
total of 16,604,026 inhabitants (
National Institute of Statistics) (Instituto
Nacional de Estadística Guatemala
-INE-, 2018).
The country’s population is comprised of
51.5% women and 48.5% men. Life
expectancy at birth for the population is
72.5 years and by gender is 70.1 years

for men and 77.2 years for women. The
average number of children per woman
with declared fertility is 3.8 children per
woman. In addition, the percentage of
the population by self-identification is
comprised of: 56% Ladino, 41.7%
Mayan, 1.8% Xinka, 0.2%
Afro-descendant, 0.1% Garifuna and
0.2% foreigners. Of the total population
53.8% of the census population in 2018
resided in urban areas and 46.2% in
rural areas.
Of the total population, 81.5% are
literate and 18.5% are illiterate. The
average years of schooling by sex are
5.8 years for men and 5.3 for women
(National Institute of Statistics
Guatemala -INE-, 2018).
Health Care System
The Ministry of Public Health and Social
Assistance of the Republic of Guatemala
-MSPAS- is responsible for formulating
policies and enforcing the legal regime
related to preventive and therapeutic
health and actions for the protection,
promotion, recovery and rehabilitation
of the physical and mental health of the
country’s inhabitants and the hygienic
preservation of the environment; to the
orientation and coordination of technical
and financial cooperation in health and
to ensure compliance with international
treaties and conventions related to
health in cases of emergencies due to
epidemics and natural disasters
(Ministry of Public Health and Social
Assistance of the Republic of Guatemala
-MSPAS-, 2020).
According to the document “Guatemala
Healthcare System Analysis”, financed
by the United States Agency for
Fiscalizando Journal Nª 26 / Research articles 17
Tax Burden, Superintendence of Tax Administration -SAT-, 2020.
The epidemiological transition in Latin America. (Frenk, Lozano, & Bobadilla, 2000).
International Development -USAID- and
prepared by Health Finance &
Governance – HFG, in Guatemala there
are significant disparities in the
indicators of access to health services,
rural areas are more affected than urban
areas, this situation responds to the fact
that the Tax Burden is one of the lowest
in the region with 12. 5% of the Gross
Domestic Product, the percentage that
corresponds to the IGSS of this burden
is 1.8%, which limits investment in
health and other sectors, a situation that
has been aggravated by corruption
scandals, inequity in terms of health is a
repetitive factor.
For example, the northern and
northwestern regions of Guatemala
continue to have the highest maternal
mortality rates in the country – more
than three times the rate found in
metropolitan areas, as well as the
highest incidence of chronic child
malnutrition. With the exception of the
northwest region, the regions with the
highest levels of maternal mortality are
the same regions that receive the lowest
levels of total per capita healthcare
spending”. Guatemala’s epidemiological
transition (patterns of change, time of
onset, speed and direction of change)
poses great challenges due to the fact
that the Guatemalan Healthcare System
has not been strengthened in terms of
infrastructure and personnel.
In the results presented in Table N° 1,
the Ministry of Public Health and Social
Assistance breaks down the national
public health network with a total of
1,545 facilities, including 46 public
hospitals and 1,152 public health posts
(Ministry of Public Health and Social
Assistance -MSPAS-, 2020).3
3 4 4

The structure of the Healthcare System
is classified into two facets, public and
private. In the public sector, the main
actors are MSPAS and IGSS. The armed
forces are covered by their own Military
Healthcare Network. The number of
people served during 2015 was: 6.56
million by MSPAS, 2.27 million by IGSS,
1.74 million by private institutions, 0.19
million by other public entities and 5.48
million unattended population. This data
compares with the 2015 population
projection of 16.25 million (National
Healthcare Diagnosis, MSPAS, 2016).
Table N° 2 presents the breakdown and
total Human Resources available in the
Fiscalizando Journal Nª 26 / Research articles 18
National Public Network, which
corresponds to a total of 60,475 people,
resulting in a ratio of 40 workers per
10,000 inhabitants (Ministry of Public
Health and Social Assistance -MSPAS-,
2020). However, a USAID study
presents that the urban area health
workers are 25 per 10,000 inhabitants,
while in rural areas there are 3 workers
per 10,000 inhabitants (United States
Agency Intenational Development
-USAID-, 2015). During the pandemic,
the number of available MSPAS human
resources has increased, although there
are no figures available on the total.

The International Labor Organization
(ILO) defines “Social Security as the
protection that a society provides to
individuals and households to ensure
access to medical care and guarantee
income security, particularly in the event
of old age, unemployment, illness,
disability, work-related accidents,
maternity or loss of a family’s
breadwinner”. In Guatemala this
function is performed by the Guatemalan
Institute of Social Security -IGSS-;
which was created by Decree No. 295
dated October 30, 1946, of the Congress
of the Republic of Guatemala. Table N° 3 shows the National Network
of the Guatemalan Social Security
Institute, which has a total of 106
facilities, including 25 hospitals, 34
clinics and 32 Integral Assignment Units
/ Integral Assignment Offices.
Table N° 4 shows the increase in the
number of physicians comparing the
months of April and June. The total
number of physicians available as of
June 2020 to serve the IGGS is 2,314
physicians, of which 1,219 are general
practitioners and 1,078 are specialists.
Fiscalizando Journal Nª 26 / Research articles 19

In addition, the IGSS has 1,290
graduate nurses, 4,746 auxiliary nurses,
75 psychologists, 4 epidemiologists, 199
social workers at the service of the IGSS
and 459 laboratory technicians. It is
important to highlight that, in spite of
the epidemiological situation that the
country is going through, the IGSS
maintains the same number of
epidemiologists at the service of its
affiliates as we can see in the
comparison of the months from April to
June. It is necessary and indispensable to hire other professionals in this field.
As of December 2019, the IGSS reports
a total of 3,031,898 people entitled to
access the IGSS, broken down as
follows: 1,350,821 Affiliates, 550,175
Consorts, 806,637 children under 7
years of age, 3,492 Accident Program
Pensioners, 176,385 Accident Program
Pensioners, 103,963 State Pensioners
and 40,425 Non-Affiliates. This results in
32 workers per 10,000 inhabitants. Pandemic
In December 2019 in the city of Wuhan,
the first case of the coronavirus disease
-COVID-19- was reported, which
subsequently spread throughout the
world. The World Health Organization
(WHO) recognized it as a global
pandemic on March 11, 2020 due to the
high health risk it represents for the
whole world. This pandemic was
officially declared in Guatemala on
March 13, 2020. The first case detected
was a person from Quiché who was returning from a trip to Europe.
The Ministry of Public Health and Social
Assistance, as the governing body, is
responsible for safeguarding the health
of the Guatemalan population and has
assumed responsibility for the
Prevention, Containment and Response
to cases of Coronavirus (COVID-19)
(Ministry of Public Health and Social
Assistance -MSPAS-, 2020). To address
Fiscalizando Journal Nª 26 / Research articles 20

6
5
7
the emergency, MSPAS and IGSS
individually developed a Strategic Plan,
whose main objective is to standardize
the public health response to the
epidemiological threat posed by one or
more persons suspected or confirmed
with Coronavirus (COVID-19) carried
out in the stages of prevention,
containment and response in a prompt,
efficient and effective manner at any
location in the country.
However, these plans do not include the
subcontracting of temporary spaces
given the limitations of the
infrastructure network of MSPAS and
IGSS. MSPAS enabled 5 temporary
hospitals plus the subcontracting of
hotels that provide the minimum
conditions for people who have
contracted the virus. The hospitals that
have been enabled are: Parque de la
Industria Temporary Hospital, in the
Capital city; Quetzaltenango Temporary
Hospital, Zacapa Temporary Hospital,
Escuintla Temporary Hospital and Petén
Temporary Hospital. As for the hotels
contracted by the MPAS, there is no
open information to identify them, but
they must comply with conditions similar
to those of a hospital, with cleaning and
security systems, as well as food service
in the rooms and solid waste
management, in the latter case, the
responsible entity (MSPAS or IGSS)
provides support.
The MSPAS, declared on July 7, 2020
that it has 51 public hospitals in the
country; including temporary hospitals,
which are attending covid-19 patients,
8
Plan for the Prevention, Containment and Response to a Coronavirus Case (COVID-19), MSPAS, 2020
Institutional Plan for Preparedness and Rapid Response to Coronavirus COVID-19, IGSS, 2020
COVID-19Temporary Hospitals, Henry, 2020
MSPAS confirms contracting of Hotels, Quino, 2020
For every 1,000 coronavirus cases per day, 100 stretchers are needed, Dominguez, 2020
In Guatemala there are 4 respirators per 100,000 inhabitants, Espina, 2020.
MSPAS confirms hiring of Hotels, Quino, 2020
MSPAS authorizes private hospitals to treat patients with COVID-19, Paredes, 2020
For every 1,000 coronavirus cases per day, 100 stretchers are needed, Dominguez, 2020
Fiscalizando Journal Nª 26 / Research articles 21
5 678910111213
9plus a temporary shelter called point 1,
also the capacity of the temporary hospitals is being expanded.
Regarding equipment, as of April 3,
2020 , MSPAS indicated that the
availability of ventilators is 676 artificial
respirators in 25 public hospitals in the
country to care for COVID-19 patients
with respiratory problems, of which 198
are leased. On May 28, 2020 , MSPAS
stated that the availability of ventilators
is 30 ventilators for the Parque de la
Industria Temporary Hospital, 17 in the
Villa Nueva Hospital plus what the
Roosevelt Hospital and the San Juan de
Dios General Hospital already had. This
reflects the availability of 4 respirators per 100,000 inhabitants.
Due to the weakness of the public health
system, on June 8, 2020, the MSPAS
authorized private hospitals and clinics
to treat people who have tested positive
for COVID-19 . Taking into account the
compliance with the protocols
established and given in previous
trainings by MSPAS. MSPAS has a
registry of 1,260 beds for patients with
covid-19, of which 1,054 are for
moderate patients and 300 beds for
intensive care . The MSPAS, issued a
statement that for every 1,000 patients
infected with COVID-19 per day, 100
stretchers are needed, in addition,
although beds and oxygen intakes are
being acquired, there are not enough
medical specialists in the country for the
specific care of these patients (Espina,
2020), in addition to general
practitioners and other specialties other

10
11
12 13

than intensivists, internists or
pulmonologists are attending cases of
coronavirus (Dominguez, 2020).
According to the statistics of the IGSS,
for the attention of the pandemic, it has
enabled spaces in the available
infrastructure and has also
subcontracted temporary spaces for the
attention of infected patients. Table Nº 5
shows the number of beds available for
the care of patients infected with
COVID-19, including in-house and
subcontracted spaces, is 1,423 beds, of
which a total of 852 beds have been
occupied as of June 2020. The total
number of physicians at the service of the pandemic as of June 2020 is 121
physicians and 694 auxiliaries attending
emergency services in sentinel hospitals
(Guatemalan Social Security Institute
-IGSS-, 2020).
According to data published by the
Ministry of Public Health and Social
Assistance as of July 27, 2020 in
Guatemala there are: 11,175 estimated
active cases; 46,451 accumulated
positive cases; 33,494 recovered cases;
1,782 deaths; 275.5 accumulated
incidence (cases per 100,000
inhabitants); 10.6 mortality rate (deaths
per 100,000 inhabitants) and 3.8% case
fatality.
Fiscalizando Journal Nª 26 / Research articles 22

Sustainable Development Goals
Guatemala assumed the commitment,
together with 192 countries, to comply
with “Transforming our world: the 2030
Agenda for Sustainable Development”.
The 2030 Agenda includes the
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),
which define an action plan to combat
poverty and inequality and seek
adaptation to climate change, in order to
achieve sustainable prosperity for all.
In order to comply with the SDGs,
Guatemala is implementing the Strategy
for the articulation of the Sustainable
Development Goals Agenda with the
K’atun National Development Plan and
Policy: Our Guatemala 2032. The
institution responsible for this articulation
is the Secretariat of Planning and
Programming of the Presidency
-SEGEPLAN-, in charge of supervising
and implementing the guidelines, in order
to comply with the commitment acquired in the SDGs.
From this alignment, the National
Development Priorities -NDP- that
summarize the integration of the 80 goals
of the K’atun Plan and the 129 of the
SDGs, managed to establish 99
prioritized goals and whose final result
were 16 Strategic Development Targets
-SDTs- and the 10 NDPs . Table 6 shows
the National Priorities that were approved
by the National Council of Urban and
Rural Development -CONADUR-, in the
“Resolutive Point Number 08-2017”; and,
its reform “Resolutive Point Number 03-2018”.
This section will focus on the National
Development Priority “Access to health
services”, specifically on two targets,14
Voluntary National Review, SEGEPLAN, 2019.
Sustainable Development Goals, SEGEPLAN, 2017.
Voluntary National Review, SEGEPLAN, 2019. Strategic Target SDG-3.8 and Target
E2P4M2, which are defined respectively
as: “Achieve universal health coverage,
including financial risk protection, access
to quality essential health services and
access to safe, effective, affordable and
quality medicines and vaccines for all”
and “Ensure the provision of health
services and care to 100% of the
population that is sick”. The indicators
defined by the United Nations are
compared below with those proposed by SEGEPLAN in response to SDG-3.8 .
Target 3.8 as defined by the United
Nations has the indicators: 3.8.1.
Coverage of essential health services
(defined as the average coverage of
essential services based on interventions
with tracers that include reproductive,
maternal, neonatal and child health,
infectious diseases, non-communicable
diseases and service capacity; as well as
access to them by the general population
and the most disadvantaged); and, 3.8.2
Number of people with health insurance
or coverage by a public health system per 1,000 population.
Meanwhile, the Strategic Target of
SDG-3.8 defined by SEGEPLAN has
three indicators: 1) Percentage of
children aged 12-23 months with a
complete vaccination schedule. 2)
Proportion of the population with high
health expenditures per household as a
percentage of total household
expenditures or income. 3) Total net
Official Development Assistance
allocated to the Medical Research and
Basic Health Care sectors. From this
comparison, the indicators proposed by
SEGEPLAN do not fully contribute to the
main objective of SDG-3.8 and should therefore be restructured.
15
Fiscalizando Journal Nª 26 / Research articles
14 1516
23
16

Fiscalizando Journal Nª 26 / Research articles 24

Target E2P4M2 defined as “Guarantee
the provision and care of health services
to 100% of the population that falls ill”,
has the following indicators: 1) Density
and distribution of health personnel. 2)
Capacity foreseen in the International
Health Regulations (IHR) and
preparedness for health emergencies.
The first indicator helps to verify
whether they contribute to having a
correct density of physicians, nurses,
midwives, dentists and pharmacists who
provide services to the population. The
second indicator helps to establish the
percentage of attributes of 13 core
competencies that have been achieved
at a specific point in time. The 13 core
capacities are 1) National Legislation,
Policy and Financing; 2) National Focal
Point Coordination and
Communications; 3) Monitoring; 4)
Response; 5) Preparedness; 6) Risk
Communication; 7) Human Resources;
8) Laboratory; 9) Points of Entry; 10)
Zoonotic Events; 11) Food Safety; 12)
Chemical Events; and 13) Radio-nuclear Emergencies (SEGEPLAN, 2019).
The actions of the Supreme Audit
Institution in the face of the Pandemic
Article 232 of the Political Constitution of
Guatemala states that the Office of the
Comptroller General of Accounts -CGC-
is a decentralized technical institution,
with auditing functions of income,
expenditures and in general of all
financial interests of State agencies,
municipalities, decentralized and
autonomous entities, as well as of any
person that receives State funds or
makes public collections.
According to the above mentioned
article, with the ideology of “Integrity, Efficiency and Transparency”
promulgated by the Comptroller General
of Accounts, Dr. Edwin Humberto
Salazar Jerez; to prevent and combat
corruption at all levels and good
governance. In this regard, the
Comptroller General approved under
Agreement A-015-2020, dated April 21,
2020, the “Strategic Audit Plan in the
Framework of the Health Emergency due
to COVID-19”, which aims to carry out
an adequate and effective audit of public
funds allocated to cover the health
emergency derived from the spread of COVID-19.
Table N° 7 shows the programs and the
allocated budget, approved by Decree
12-2020 and its amendment Decree
13-2020, which are intended to address
the COVID-19 Emergency and to protect
Guatemalans from the effects caused by
the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, in
which a budget increase of Q 13,226.00
million is authorized to address the
emergency.
Conclusion
As has been demonstrated in the course
of this document, Guatemala has a
weakness in terms of public health
coverage according to the number of
inhabitants. Currently, the Ministry of
Public Health and Social Assistance
-MPAS- has a Healthcare Network of
1,545 facilities, of which only 46 are
hospitals. The Guatemalan Institute of
Social Security has 106 facilities in its
Healthcare Network, 25 of which are
hospitals, which has led to the
contracting of hotels and temporary
private facilities to provide healthcare
coverage. Of the human resources
available, MSPAS has 40 workers per
10,000 inhabitants and IGSS has 32
Fiscalizando Journal Nª 26 / Research articles 25

workers per 10,000 inhabitants,
although both institutions have hired
personnel, with data only from IGSS,
which increased by 428 workers from
April to June, for a total of 9,087
workers. Regarding equipment, it is
estimated that there is a total of 4
respirators per 100,000 inhabitants.
In this sense, Guatemala does have
information to respond to SDG-3.8 as
defined by the United Nations, although
in this research the figures obtained are
partial measurements. As for the
indicators proposed by SEGEPLAN, they
are considered indicators that do not
contribute fully to the measurement of
SDG-3.8. It is important to follow up and
comply with SDG-3.8, given that Guatemala does not have the
infrastructure resources, much less the
human resources to attend to the
COVID-19 pandemic, not to mention the
medical equipment necessary to attend
to COVID-19 positive patients. The
outline of correct and measurable
indicators will outline short, medium and
long term targets that must be met in
order to strengthen the Guatemalan
Healthcare System. The Supreme Audit
Institution of Guatemala developed the
“Strategic Audit Plan in the Framework of
the Health Emergency due to COVID-19”,
to implement adequate and effective
Audit Strategies to the State institutions
that execute the resources derived from
the emergency caused by COVID-19,
which contemplate auditing all the
Fiscalizando Journal Nª 26 / Research articles 26

measures taken, hiring of temporary
hospitals, the evaluation of the
performance of the COVID-19 tests
performed, in addition to the 10 social
programs to counteract the economic
effects of the Pandemic.
Bibliography
Fiscalizando Journal Nª 26 / Research articles
National Constituent Assembly.
(1985). Political Constitution of the
Republic of Guatemala. Guatemala:
Government of Guatemala.
Congress of the Republic of
Guatemala. (2020). Decree Number
12-2020: Emergency Law to protect
Guatemalans from the effects caused
by the COVID-19 coronavirus
pandemic. Guatemala: Diario de Centro América.
Congress of the Republic of
Guatemala. (2020). Decree Number
13-2020: Law of Economic Rescue to
Families for the Families for the Effects
Caused by Covid-19. by Covid-19. Guatemala: Diario de Centro América.
Office of the Comptroller General of
Accounts -CGC-. (2020). Agreement
Number A-05-2020. Guatemala: CGC.
Dominguez, A. (07 July 2020). For
every thousand daily cases of
coronavirus 100 stretchers are
needed, says Ministry of Health.
Guatemala, Guatemala, Guatemala:
Prensa Libre. Recovered on July 20,
2020, from 2020, from
https://www.prensalibre.com/guatem
ala/comunitario/por-cada-mil-casos-d
iarios-de-coronavirus-se-necesitan-100-camillas-senala-ministerio-de-salud/
Espina, C. (April 13, 2020).
Guatemala: there are four respirators
per hundred thousand inhabitants.
Retrieved July 25, 2020, from
https://elperiodico.com.gt/nacion/20
27
20/04/13/guatemala-hay-cuatro-respir
adores-por-cada-cien-mil-habitantes/
Frenk, J., Lozano, R., & Bobadilla, J. L.
(2000). The epidemiological transition
in Latin America. National Institute of
Public Health. Cuernavaca, Mexico:
INSP. Retrieved on 07/16/2020, from
https://repositorio.cepal.org/bitstream/handle/11362/12808/NP60-03_es.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
Henry, P. (April 13, 2020). What
temporary hospitals by Covid-19 are
ready and which are missing.
Guatemala, Guatemala, Guatemala:
Republica. Retrieved July 22, 2020, from
https://republica.gt/2020/04/13/hospi
tales-temporales-por-covid19-guatemala/
Guatemalan Institute of Social Security
-IGSS-. (2020). Institutional Plan for
Preparedness and Rapid Response to
the Coronavirus COVID-19.
Guatemala: IGSS.
Guatemalan Institute of Social Security
-IGSS-. (2020). Statistical report of
resources used in the institution to care
for beneficiaries during the COVID-19
pandemic period. Guatemala: IGSS.
Retrieved from
https://www.igssgt.org/reporte-estadi
stico-de-recursos-igss-periodo-pande
mia-covid-19/
National Institute of Statistics of
Guatemala -INE-. (2018). XII National
Population Census and VII Housing
Census. GUATEMALA: INE.
Ministry of Public Health and Social
Assistance of the Republic of
Guatemala -MSPAS-. (July 20, 2020).
Ministry of Public Health and Social
Assistance of the Republic of
Guatemala. Retrieved from Ministry of
Public Health and Social Assistance of
the Republic of Guatemala:
https://www.mspas.gob.gt/index.php/institucional/acerca-del-mspas

Ministry of Public Health and Social
Assistance -MSPAS-. (2016). National
Health Diagnosis 2016. Guatemala:
MSPAS. Retrieved from
https://www.mspas.gob.gt/images/fil
es/cuentasnacionales/publicaciones/D
iagnosticoNacionaldeSaludGuatemalaDIC2016.pdf
Ministry of Public Health and Social
Assistance -MSPAS-. (2020). Plan for
the Prevention, Containment and
Response to Coronavirus (COVID-19)
in Guatemala. Guatemala: MSPAS.
International Labor Organization
-ILO-. (2001). Facts on Social
Security. Geneva, Switzerland: ILO.
Paredes, L. (June 08, 2020). Ministry
of Health authorizes private hospitals
to attend patients with COVID-19.
Guatemala: El Periódico. Retrieved
July 24, 2020, from
https://elperiodico.com.gt/nacion/20
20/06/08/ministerio-de-salud-autoriz
a-a-hospitales-privados-para-atender
-a-pacientes-con-covid-19/
Quino Tzoc, H. (May 28, 2020).
Ministry of Health confirms contracting
of hotel for COVID-19 patients.
Guatemala, Guatemala, Guatemala:
La Hora. Retrieved July 24, 2020, from
https://lahora.gt/ministerio-de-saludc
onfirma-contratacion-de-hotel-parapa
cientes-covid-19/
Secretariat of Planning and
Programming of the Presidency
-SEGEPLAN- . (2017). Sustainable
Development Goals. Guatemala:
SEGEPLAN. Retrieved from
http://www.segeplan.gob.gt/nportal/i
ndex.php/biblioteca-documental/bibli
oteca-documentos/category/98-ods?download=587:ods-metas-priorizadas
Secretariat of Planning and
Programming of the Presidency
-SEGEPLAN-. (2019). Voluntary
National Review 2019: The Road to
Sustainable Development.
Guatemala: SEGEPLAN. Retrieved
Fiscalizando Journal Nª 26 / Research articles 28
from
https://pnd.gt/PDF/RNV_2019_COMP
LETO_FINAL_compressed.pdf
Superintendence of Tax Administration
-SAT-. (July 01, 2020). Net tax
burden. Guatemala, Guatemala,
Guatemala. Retrieved July 28, 2020, from
https://portal.sat.gob.gt/portal/estadisticas-indicadores-tributarios/
United States Agency International
Development -USAID-. (2015).
Guatemala Healthcare System
Analysis. Bethesda, Maryland: Abt
Associates Inc. Retrieved from
https://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/f
iles/documents/1862/Guatemala-HSA
%20_ENG-FULL-REPORT-FINAL-APRIL-2016.pdf

Fiscalizando Journal Nª 26 / Research articles 29
GOVERNMENTAL CONTROL IN SEARCH OF HEALTH AND WELFARE IN TIMES OF SARS COV – 2 IN PERU
Abstract:
Peru’s supreme audit
institution began its control work within
the framework of a State of Health
Emergency and State of Exception, as a
result of the entry into force of Law No.
31016 “Law that establishes measures
for the deployment of simultaneous
control during the health emergency due
to COVID-19” published on April 6,
2020. As a result of the work, in the 100
days of control accompaniment to the
sanitary emergency, a total of 7,482
control reports were issued, of which
709 Control Reports were issued by the
health sector, according to the
institutional website of the Office of the
General Comptroller of the Republic of
Peru. In addition, with the disbursement
of more than S/. 90 900 million that, as
of July 2020, the government allocated
for the attention of measures required
due to the effects of the coronavirus in
the country, began what was discussed
at the Annual International Conference
for Integrity 2019 CAII-2019 held in
Lima, organized by the SAI of Peru,
referred to the governmental control
with information techniques such as Big
Data. In addition, an analysis of the
Peruvian healthcare system is made,
which is subdivided into five subsystems
and the structure of the control system
in the country’s healthcare sector is presented. Author:
Maryuri Hortencia Suárez Tapia SAI Peru
Peruvian constitutional law, through
Article 2 of the Political Constitution,
establishes, among other rights, the right to life and well-being.
For Baldo Kresalja/Cesar Ochoa (2009),
the concept of well-being “is a broad
concept, which assumes that the
citizen/person possesses everything that
allows them ‘ to feel good, that is to say,
that only by possessing this state of
well-being could it be said that the
person would be in the best conditions to
fulfill their life project”. Under this
scenario, the State must provide its
citizens with the protection of the right
to life and well-being, which implies to
this day, a challenge on a bicentennial
scale; because with only one year left for
the 200 years of republican life, the
objective has not been achieved.
To provide healthcare services, Peru has
a decentralized healthcare system,
administered by five subsystems: the
Ministry of Health -MINSA- the Social
Health Insurance -ESSALUD- the Armed
Forces -FFAA- the National Police -PNP-
and the private sector, all of which has
made it difficult to provide coordinated
care to health users, according to the
current President of the Republic, who
has even proposed the unification of the
healthcare system, as is the case in
Chile, Costa Rica and Brazil. For further
information on health systems in Peru, the following is detailed below:
The ILO Office for the Andean Countries
(2013), in the ESSALUD Performance
Key words: health, well-being,
systems, universalization, SAI,
efficiency, Big data, government control.

Fiscalizando Journal Nª 26 / Research articles 30
Study, notes that Peru’s healthcare
system comprises public and private
service providers, each of which
incorporates a set of vertically integrated
financing and service delivery
mechanisms. For the provision of
healthcare services, the public sector is
organized into five segments, with
contributory or general revenue financing.
First, the Government offers healthcare
services to the uninsured population in
exchange for the payment of a recovery
fee of variable amounts, through the
Comprehensive Health Insurance -SIS-
which subsidizes the provision of
services to the population living in
poverty. The provision of services, both
for the subsidized regime for the open
population and for the population
affiliated to the SIS, is carried out through the network of facilities of the
regional governments and the Ministry
of Health, which are located in the
regions and in the capital of the Republic
(Alcalde-Rabanal et al., 2011, as cited by
the ILO Office for the Andean Countries,
2013). This subsystem is structured at
three levels: national, regional and local.
The national level is made up of MINSA,
MINSA’s deconcentrated bodies such as
the Directorate of Strategic Health
Resources Supply and the specialized institutes.
The regional level is represented by the
Regional Health Directorates -DIRESA-
belonging to the regional governments
and, the local level, by some
municipalities in charge of the
administration and budget of the
healthcare facilities in their jurisdictions
(MINSA, 2010, as cited by ILO Office for the Andean Countries, 2013).
Source: Alcalde-Rabanal et al., 2011, as cited by ILO Office for Andean Countries, 2013.

Fiscalizando Journal Nª 26 / Research articles 31
The other four subsystems that provide
health services are: i) the Health Social
Security – ESSALUD attached to the
Ministry of Labor and Employment
Promotion, which operates its own
network of hospitals and health centers;
ii) the Armed Forces (Navy, Aviation and
Army) Healthcare, attached to the
Ministry of Defense, which has its own
facilities; iii) the Peruvian National Police
(PNP) Healthcare, attached to the
Ministry of the Interior, which also has its
own facilities; and iv) private sector
institutions: health care providers (EPS),
private insurers, clinics and civil society
organizations (CSOs) (Wilson et al.,
2009; Alcalde-Rabanal et al., 2011, as
cited by ILO Andean Office, 2013).
It is important to highlight the progress
made by governments, such as the
current one, which established the
universalization of health care in Peru,
whose goal is that 100% of the country’s
residents will have some type of health
care coverage by the end of this
government.
Despite the fact that the Framework Law
on Universal Health Insurance was
approved in 2014, its implementation
had been very slow until November
2019, when Emergency Decree No.
017-2019 was issued, which outlines
initiatives to expedite coverage in
preventive, promotional, recuperative
and rehabilitation benefits on the basis
of the Essential Health Insurance Plan
(PEAS). (The universalization of health, 2020).
Thus, through its numeral 2. 1, Article 2
of the aforementioned Decree, the following was stated: “IAFAS – SIS is
authorized to affiliate regardless of
socioeconomic classification, any person
residing in the national territory who
does not have any health insurance, in
order to guarantee the protection of the
right to health”; this allowed access to
health insurance, to all residents,
Peruvians and domiciled in the country .
However, the challenge becomes even
more acute with a SARS Cov – 2
pandemic, which implies a greater
commitment not only from the health
sector, but also from the supervisory
bodies, such as the SAIs, which must be
there to help ensure the efficiency and
effectiveness of public spending involved in dealing with a pandemic.
Under this scenario, the presence of the
Supreme Audit Office of Peru became
necessary to participate as an active
agent in the control of public
expenditure in times of pandemic, which
was made feasible through Law No.
31016 “Law that establishes measures
for the deployment of simultaneous
control during the health emergency by
COVID-19″ published on April 6, 2020,
which in its Article 2 empowers the
Office, to control the entities under the
scope of the National Control System,
recipients of public resources, with the following text:
The Institutions Administrators of Health Insurance Funds (IAFAS) or better known as health insurers, are the
institutions that provide health insurance. (Unified digital platform of the Peruvian State, 2019).
Among the most numerous is the migration phenomenon of our Venezuelan brothers and sisters to Peru.
1 2 1
2
“Article 2. Execution of simultaneous control The Office of
the Comptroller General of the
Republic is empowered to control the
entities under the scope of the
National Control System referred to
in Article 3 of Law 27785, recipients

Fiscalizando Journal Nª 26 / Research articles 32
of public resources allocated during
the sanitary emergency due to
COVID-19; that is, in investment
projects, procurement of goods and
services, works and in all activities
and processes where public
resources are being transferred
without any limitation, applying
simultaneous control under the
modalities: concurrent control,
control visit and ex officio orientation.”
The disbursement of more than S/. 90
900 million soles that the government
has allocated as of July 2020 for the
attention of measures required by the
effects of the coronavirus in the country,
(Office of the Comptroller General of the
Republic, 2020), and the magnitude of
the population receiving the benefits of
public money, opened the way to put
into practice what was discussed at the
Annual International Conference for
Integrity 2019 CAII-2019 held in Lima,
organized by the SAI of Peru, regarding
governmental control with Big Data. In
this way, the Office of the Comptroller
developed the computer application
Transparency in the framework of the
COVID-19 Health Emergency, which
allowed 1874 heads and responsible
persons in each local government, to be
accountable virtually. (Office of the
Comptroller General of the Republic of
Peru, 2019).
Government Control in the Healthcare Sector
Taking into account that the health
services system in Peru is divided into
five subsystems, as explained above;
Peru’s governmental control system has
undergone changes in order to carry out its control work, with respect to the
competence of the organizational unit of
the SAI of Peru, in charge of the
governmental control system in
healthcare matters. However, in general
terms, it can be pointed out that the
governmental control system in the
healthcare sector is deconcentrated,
since the capital of the Republic – Lima –
and the Callao Region are under the
competence of the Deputy Manager for
the Control of the Health Sector; While
the Regional Control Offices, which are
located throughout the national territory,
are the deconcentrated bodies of the SAI
of Peru, responsible for directing and
executing the control services and
related services in the entities included
in their respective areas of control.
Regarding the competence in Lima and
Callao, the SAI of Peru, has in its organic
structure the Manager of Basic Public
Services, which in turn, among its
deputy managers, has the Deputy
Manager of Control of the Health Sector,
which has as its scope of competence 53
entities, among which are ESSALUD,
MINSA, the Regional Health Directorates
– DIRESAS – the Institutes of Health, the
SIS and the different hospitals of the
Sanitation that execute public funds
(Entity Management App of the SAI
Peru, 2020) ; being the operational arms
the Institutional Control Bodies of each
entity -OCI- which are the specialized
organizational unit responsible for
carrying out governmental control in a
public institution or entity, in accordance
with the provisions of Articles 7 and 17
of the “Organic Law of the National
Control System and the Office of the
Comptroller General of the Republic”
(Law No. 27785, 2002).
Source derived from Intranet (not publicly accessible)
3 3

Fiscalizando Journal Nª 26 / Research articles 33
artículos 7 y 17 de la “Ley Orgánica del
Sistema Nacional de Control y de la
Contraloría General de la República” (Ley N° 27785, 2002).
Regarding the healthcare service
provided by the private sector, the entity
that is competent to oversee the service,
according to the provisions of Supreme
Decree No. 026-2015-SA, is the National
Superintendence of Health – SUSALUD –
which until August 13, 2015, such power
was entrusted to the National Institute
for the Defense of Competition and
Protection of Intellectual Property – INDECOPI.
Having set in motion the national control
system in the sphere of healthcare, an
operation was carried out to control the
response capacity of healthcare facilities
in the presence of cases of coronavirus,
which meant the deployment of more
than 200 auditors, who visited 97 public
healthcare facilities of the second and
third level of care nationwide. These
hospitals have been assigned to receive
and care for patients infected with
COVID-19, which represent a significant
sample of almost 50% of the more than
200 hospitals authorized for this purpose
(Office of the Comptroller General of the
Republic, 2020).
Among the areas supervised, according
to this Governmental Control
Management Report (2020), were the
triage area, the implementation of
isolation rooms, the actual disposition of
healthcare professionals, the distribution
of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
to healthcare professionals, the
conditions and protocols for patient
transfers in ambulances, the availability
of biomedical equipment and the operation of Intensive Care Units (ICU).
It is also detailed that the control reports
issued in this regard point out risks such
as the fact that the health emergency
caused a reduction of almost 30% in the
capacity of healthcare professionals in
the facilities visited, i.e., on average,
they provide care with 74% of their
physicians, as well as 76% of their nurses and 72% of their technicians.
According to the Governmental Control
Management Report (2020), during the
operations, the auditors counted a total
of 656 ICU beds for COVID-19 patients,
of which 445 were occupied. In addition,
632 mechanical ventilators were found
to be operational, of which 453 were
occupied. Taking these figures into
account, it is concluded that there are
211 free COVID ICU beds, at the date of
the visit, and 179 free mechanical
ventilators, so there is a deficit of 32
mechanical ventilators to cover the total
number of COVID ICU beds. However, it
was also detected that 80 mechanical
ventilators were inoperative and 50 of
them are in hospitals ascribed to the
Regional Governments.
In this regard, the Office of the
Comptroller General issued a total of
7,482 control reports, of which 709
Control Reports were issued by the
health sector, as indicated in the Office
of the Comptroller General’s website
(2020) in which the Ministry of Health,
ESSALUDG, Armed Forces, National
Police and Regional Governments were
reminded to improve the management
of hospitals assigned to the care of
COVID-19 cases, in order to ensure
adequate patient care; (Office of the
Comptroller General of the Republic, 2020).

Fiscalizando Journal Nª 26 / Research articles 34
The need for ventilators in the care of
Covid patients is an issue of special
attention for governmental control, thus
the ex-officio orientation report
N°016-2020-OCI/0191-SOO states that
the General Administration Office of
MINSA purchased 35 adult pediatric
ventilators model Servo Air for a value of
S/ 6,265,000. The purchase included
installation within five calendar days.
However, these were delivered
incomplete, without all the accessories,
and acceptance was granted when only
28% of the delivery was completed. In
addition, it was verified that the hospital
does not have the necessary and
sufficient healthcare professionals to
manage patients with severe COVID-19
infection in the Intensive Care Unit. For
example, there are only 4 intensivists,
when there should be 45; 18 nurses,
when there should be 130; 12 nursing
technicians, when 90 are required. In
total, there are 34 personnel: 11% of
what should be available according to
the technical standard, which is 320.
(Office of the General Comptroller of the
Republic, 2020).
Another critical point of the control was
the control service referred to the
performance of molecular tests. The
Office of the Comptroller General found
that although the National Health
Institute (INS) provided and processed
19,746 molecular tests for the detection
of COVID-19 free of charge, these tests
were sent by private health centers in
Lima, which charged between S/.
422.72 and S/. 576.61 for the diagnostic
service. According to the Control Visit
Report N° 019- 2020 – OCI – INS-
0229-CS/SVC, it was identified that, in
the period from March 6 to May 26,
2020, the area of reception and
collection of samples of the National
Public Health Center of the INS registered biological samples from 88
private health establishments, which
represents 21% of the total number of
samples sent to the above mentioned
entity. It is worth mentioning that the
molecular test input, for the cases
evaluated, was provided free of charge
by the State (Office of the Comptroller
General of the Republic, 2020).
The warning alerted SUSALUD, the
entity in charge of supervising the
private sector in health services, of a
commercial law institution, which is the
excessive onerousness of the service
(Bullard A., 2010), since up to
approximately $161 dollars would have
been charged for alleged protective
equipment, sampling kit and
transportation to the INS, an issue that
is currently under investigation.
Finally, to speak statistically of deceased
persons, for many it does not only mean
numbers, it also implies the loss of a
father, an uncle, a loved one, and that is
when the work of an auditing entity
takes on the real importance of assisting
the government, the State, the bodies
executing public expenditure. Therefore,
the auditing to eradicate corruption and
even the universalization that entails the
duty of the State for the protection of
the right to life and well-being of
Peruvians, has led us as SAI of Peru, to
the warning of the behavior of the
private sector that provides healthcare
services, which means somehow in
simple terms, helping to save lives in all
the subsystems that Peru has.
In the theory of the loss of chance of
cure or survival, there is the concurrence
of the pathogenic agent with the
physician’s conduct, on which Aníbal
Piaggio points out that some questions
should be asked, which, brought to the

Fiscalizando Journal Nª 26 / Research articles 35
context of governmental control, would
be the following: “What role has the
activity of the public servant or official
played in the production of the damage
and of a negative result for the patient;
has his professional behavior been the
cause of a disastrous or aggravating
result, or has it contributed, and to what
extent, to it?” (Piaggio, A., ” Chance and
Certainty in the Law of Torts”. E.D.,
152-798, as cited by Juan Sonoda).
Asking these questions allows us to
reach assumptions such as: more lives
would have been saved if the role of the
public servant had not been immersed in
corruption; if the public budget had been
properly executed, giving preventive
treatment to the health of patients
before the pandemic; they would not
have had to face it with a broken health;
to what extent it affects the functional
performance and the effectiveness of
public spending, of the health sector
official. If an affirmative answer is given,
it could be concluded that the work and
effort of the SAI audit family is decisive
in order to overcome together this critical period in the world.
Therefore, governmental control helps in
the search for the health and well-being
of Peruvians, having agents involved,
from the citizen who is aware of taking
care of their health, to the official or
public servant who executes efficiently
and without corruption the public
money, having the Auditing Entity as the
one that warns, guides, but also
proposes sanctions, if someone dares to
steal the life of a Peruvian.
Conclusion
different SAIs of the region and the
world, as well as the magnitude of the population receiving the benefits
of public money, gave opening to
what was discussed at the Annual
International Conference for
Integrity 2019 CAII-2019 held in
Lima, organized by the SAI of Peru,
regarding government control with Big Data.
Peru has a decentralized health care
system, administered by five
subsystems: the Ministry of Health
(MINSA); ESSALUD; the Armed
Forces (FFAA), the National Police
(PNP), and the private sector. In the
same sense, the governmental
control system is deconcentrated, in
the capital of the Republic, the
Deputy Manager for Health Sector
Control is responsible for 53 health
entities, geographically located in
Lima and Callao, while the Regional
Control Offices, which are located
throughout the national territory, are
deconcentrated bodies of the SAI of
Peru, responsible for directing and
executing the control services and
related services in the entities
included in their respective areas of control.
The SAI of Peru issued a total of 709
Control Reports issued by the health
sector, as indicated in the Office of
the Comptroller’s website, and
recommended to entities such as the
Ministry of Health, ESSALUD, Armed
Forces, National Police and Regional
Governments to improve the
management of hospitals assigned to
the care of COVID-19 cases, in order to ensure adequate patient care.
The exchange of experiences in the
use of technological tools, among

Fiscalizando Journal Nª 26 / Research articles 36
Governmental control contributes to
the search for the health and
well-being of Peruvians, involving
agents ranging from the citizen to the
public official or public servant who
executes public funds efficiently and without corruption.
Bibliography
Entity Management App of the SAI of
Peru (30.06. 2020) Recovered in
https://apps1.contraloria.gob.pe/suit
ecaral/entidadesweb/Home/Index
Bullar Gonzales, A., 2010, Law and
Economics. The Economic Analysis of
Legal Institutions, second edition, p.
1305, Lima, Fondo Editorial Palestra.
Office of the Comptroller General of
the Republic of Peru, December 2 and
3, 2019, Office of the Comptroller
General in Action CAII Special
Edition, National Library of Peru.
Office of the Comptroller General of
the Republic (2020), Control in times
of COVID-19. Management report on
governmental control in the face of
the Sanitary Emergency due to
COVID-19, Lima, Peru.
Kresalja B./Ochoa C., 2009,
Economic Constitutional Law, first
edition, p. 938, Lima, Fondo Editorial
Pontificia Universidad Católica del
Perú.
The universalization of health,
January 12, 2020, Official Gazette of
the Bicentennial El Peruano.
Retrieved from
https://elperuano.pe/noticia-la-universalizacion-de-salud-88545.aspx
Law No. 27785 Organic Law of the
National Control System and the
Office of the Comptroller General of
the Republic, Official Gazette El
Peruano, Lima, July 23, 2002.
ILO/ILO Office for Andean Countries,
Oscar Cetrángolo, Fabio Bertranou,
Luis Casanova and Pablo Casalí,
2013, Peru’s health system: current
situation and strategies to guide the
extension of contributory coverage,
first edition, retrieved from
https://www.ilo.org/americas/public
aciones/bibliografias/WCMS_180282/lang–es/index.htm
Unified Digital Platform of the
Peruvian State, 29.07.2019,
retrieved from
https://www.gob.pe/281-seguros-de-salud
Institutional Website of the Office of
the Comptroller General of the
Republic of Peru (21.08.2020).
Retrieved from
https://emergenciasanitaria.contralo
ria.gob.pe/
Sonoda Juan, “Loss of chances of
cure and survival”. Retrieved from
http://www.derecho.uba.ar/publicaci
ones/lye/revistas/72-73-74/perdidad
e-chances-de-curacion-y-sobrevida.pdf

Fiscalizando Journal Nª 26 / Research articles 37
APPLYING THE PARETO PRINCIPLE TO GOVERNMENTAL CONTROL
MAIN ADVERSE SITUATIONS IDENTIFIED IN THE
SIMULTANEOUS CONTROL OF THE EXECUTION OF PUBLIC WORKS BY THE INSTITUTIONAL CONTROL BODIES
Author:
Benjamin Gutierrez Espinoza
SAI Peru1
Bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from the National University of Engineering, master’s degree student in
public management, with advanced knowledge of English. Currently, he works in the Office of the General
Comptroller of the Republic of Peru as a product of the New Talents in Governmental Control program class
2018 assigned to the Deputy Manager of Complaints Attention.
Source: Friendly Query (Monthly) of the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF).
Body that is part of the National Control System, whose purpose is to carry out governmental control in the
entities in accordance with the provisions of Articles 6°, 7° and 8° of Law 27785, promoting the correct and
transparent management of the entity’s resources and assets, as established in Directive No.
007-2015-CG/PROCAL “Directive of the Institutional Control Bodies”.
(Defliese, Jaenicke, Sullivan and Gnospelius, 1991) define it as “the susceptibility (…) of a type of operation to
errors that could be material, (…)” referring to financial auditing. However, in the present research this term is
extrapolated by using it as the susceptibility of a type of control subject to frequent adverse situations.
1 2 3 4
Abstract: In Peru in the last decade,
resources for local government for the
execution of public investment projects
have increased from 13,525 million soles
in 2010 to 20,208 million soles in 2019 of the modified institutional budget .
In order to improve the execution of
projects, the Office of the Comptroller
General of the Republic (CGR) has
implemented various strategies,
including simultaneous control and the
progressive incorporation of the
Institutional Control Bodies (OCI) of the
national government, regional
governments and local governments into the CGR.
Likewise, the CGR has made great
progress in the transparency of
information, such is the case that, after
the reports are notified, they must be
published in their entirety on the CGR’s
website (Law No. 30742). In this regard,
the published reports form a large and
reliable database to carry out
investigations in matters of public control and management. 2
3 In this sense, this research article
proposes to use the Pareto principle to
identify the main adverse situations of
the simultaneous controls of the
execution of public works under contract
conducted by the OCIs of provincial
municipalities carried out during the
second half of 2018 to the first half of
2019, contributing to increase the
knowledge about the inherent risks that
this type of control matter possesses, in
order to continue improving the control
strategies to works, especially that of the OCIs.
4
Key words:
Simultaneous Control,
Public Works, Pareto Principle.
Conducting the Research
Public works are a unique area of
control, due to the amounts involved

Fiscalizando Journal Nª 26 / Research articles 38
and the degree of specialization required
during their investment cycle, as shown Figure N° 1. Phases in the investment cycle of a public works
Source: Instructions for Format N° 01 registration in the Execution phase for
investment projects Directive N° 003-2017-EF/63.01, Ministry of Economy and Finance.
It should also be noted that the
execution of the work is the phase in
which the greatest expense is incurred
and where the plans and technical
specifications of the Technical File (T.F.)
are finalized.
This phase has specific regulations, such
is the case that the Regulation of the
State Contracting Law approved by
Supreme Decree No. 344-2018-EF, has
the “Chapter VI Works”. It must also
comply with the Technical Standards of
the National Building Regulations
approved by D.S. N°
011-2006-VIVIENDA of May 8, 2006, as
amended.las Normas Técnicas del
Reglamento
On the other hand, simultaneous control
is currently regulated by Directive N°
002 2019 CG/NORM and its
amendments, being its main modalities
applicable to the execution of works: Control Visit and Concurrent Control.
in Figure Nº 1.
Image N° 1 Construction site located at more than 3,000
m.a.s.l., where simultaneous control was carried out by an OCI
Source: Prepared by the author.

Fiscalizando Journal Nª 26 / Research articles 39
The control visit is applied to public
works because the main techniques it
uses are inspection and observation,
crucial techniques to identify adverse
situations during the execution of works.
It should be noted that this method of
simultaneous control is only performed
on one activity or a single control milestone.Concurrent control could be said to go
further, since it is carried out as an
accompaniment and its purpose is the
evaluation of a set of milestones in the
execution of the work , identifying
adverse situations during different
periods of the execution.
The milestones for controlling the execution of works are usually associated with the valuations (monthly
progress reports) or with the status of execution associated with a cut-off date.
5 5
Figure No. 2 Interrelation of the stages of a Control Visit
Source: Prepared by the author. Figure N° 3 Interrelation of the stages of Concurrent Control
Source: Prepared by the author.

Fiscalizando Journal Nª 26 / Research articles 40
These control modalities have short
deadlines compared to those of ex-post
control. It should also be noted that 75%
of the simultaneous control services
performed in 2019 were carried out by
the OCIs, according to the CGR’s
July-December 2019 Semi-Annual
Executive Management Report.
In this sense, the determination of the
main adverse situations revealed by the
OCIs in the execution of works under
local government contracts at the
national level will contribute to increase
the knowledge of the inherent risks of
this type of control matter, which will be
used for the audit staff (especially the
OCIs) to continue improving their
control strategy for works, paying
special attention to the procedures that
may reveal the most frequent adverse situations.
The reports issued by the OCI of the Metropolitan Municipality of Lima were not considered for this study, as it
is a provincial municipality under a special regimen.
The present study does not consider the control of paralyzed or completed works, since these controls contain
adverse situations related to the state of the work, which is not the execution of the work.
During part of the analysis period, Directive No. 006-2014-CG/APROD was in force where one of the types of
simultaneous control applicable to the execution of works is simultaneous action, so it is considered in this
study.6
6 78 Executed during the second half of 2018 to the first half of 2019.
Whose subject to control is the
execution of a work under contract.
Are of the type Control Visit,
Concurrent Control or Simultaneous Action .
First, the study sample was delimited in
the reports made by the OCIs of
provincial municipalities that meet the
following characteristics:
7
8
AS
29%
VC
39%
CC
32%
Figure N° 4 Types of simultaneous control services of
the study base
Source: Prepared by the author. The CGR’s Control Services Report
Search Engine was vital for the
information gathering process because it
allowed access to the study sample. In
this sense, 183 simultaneous control
reports of the following types were collected for this research:

Fiscalizando Journal Nª 26 / Research articles 41
In addition, 762 adverse situations were identified in these reports, with the following distribution: Tabla n.° 1 Distribución de tipos de situaciones adversas
n.° Adverse Situation related to: Frequency
(units)
Frequency
(%)
Accumulated
Frequency
(%)
1 Permanence of those in charge of
execution 155 20.34% 20.34%
2 Security 63 8.27% 28.61%
3 Review/Control of valuations 55 7.22% 35.83%
4 Quality of the work 53 6.96% 42.78%
5 Scope of work 37 4.86% 47.64%
6 INFObras Registration 36 4.72% 52.36%
7 Quality of the T.F. 35 4.59% 56.96%
8 Updating of the work log 28 3.67% 60.63%
9 Presence of the work log 23 3.02% 63.65%
10 Start of work conditions 23 3.02% 66.67%
11 Profile of key personnel 22 2.89% 69.55%
12 Bid compliance (proposed key
personnel) 21 2.76% 72.31%
13 Materials and their storage 19 2.49% 74.80%
14 Bid compliance (logistics and laborers) 19 2.49% 77.30%
15 Delay in work or schedule 14 1.84% 79.13%
16 Process for submission and
payment of valuations 11 1.44% 80.58%
17 Selection procedure 10 1.31% 81.89%
18 Quality of the additional/ deductive T.F. 10 1.31% 83.20%
19 End of work deadline 10 1.31% 84.51%
20 Supervisor’s work 9 1.18% 85.70%
21 Laboratory tests 8 1.05% 86.75%
22 Concordance and content of the work notebook. 8 1.05% 87.80%
23 Processing of work advances 8 1.05% 88.85%
24 Complete documentation of the T.F. 7 0.92% 89.76%
25 Attention of the entity of work
consultations 7 0.92% 90.68%
26 Process of evaluation of
additional/deductive 7 0.92% 91.60%
27 Process and approval of time extensions. 7 0.92% 92.52%
28 Permission from national entities 6 0.79% 93.31%
29 Execution of additional or greater metrics, without approval. 5 0.66% 93.96%
30 Complete content of the valuation 5 0.66% 94.62%
31 Presence of the technical file on site 4 0.52% 95.14%
32 Attention to the requirements of the
commission 3 0.39% 95.54%
33 Construction waste – cleanup 3 0.39% 95.93%
34 Control of guarantees 3 0.39% 96.33%
35 Social benefits or construction insurance 3 0.39% 96.72%

Fiscalizando Journal Nª 26 / Research articles 42
After having tabulated the data, it was
corroborated that the Pareto principle
could be applied to the series, for which
the simplified rule from the article “The
Pareto managerial principle: when does
it apply?” was used, which indicates as a
“rule of thumb” that if 20% of the
attributes (type of data) represent more
than 60% of frequency, the Pareto principle can be used.
In this regard, the total number of
adverse situations is 56, so that its 20%
amounts to 10.8, so the 10 types of
adverse situations with the highest
frequencies are taken, which in absolute
frequency correspond to 66.67% of the
frequency as shown in the cumulative
frequency column of Table N° 1, proving
The types of adverse situations with frequencies less than or equal to two are with respect to: Contract for
execution of work or supervision, environmental mitigation, postponement of start of term, agreements of the
entity with respect to the work, non-revision of the T.F. during start of execution, Consultancy during execution
of work, penalties to the executor and/or supervisor, addenda to the contract of the contractor and/or
supervisor, Annex to the work notebook, ex-post auditing of doc. of change of key personnel, overlapping of
execution of items, duplicity of approved T.F., payment to supervisor in paralyzed work, evaluation of
conciliation, payment of supervisor for month not worked, conciliation requirements with the contractor,
deficient internal control, registration of contractor in SIAF.
For graphic visualization purposes, the Pareto Diagram shows the names of the 30 most frequent types of
adverse situations with a cumulative frequency of 94.62%.
9 10
9
that the Pareto principle can be applied.
This is also shown in the Pareto Diagram
(Figure N° 5), where it can be seen that
after ordering the types of adverse
situations from most to least frequent,
66.67% of the adverse situations
correspond to the cumulative frequency
of the first 10 types.
Finally, it was determined that the main
adverse situations evidenced in the
simultaneous control of the execution of
works under contract by the OCIs, which
would represent 66.67% of the adverse
situations by the Pareto principle, are
the 10 types of adverse situations shown below: 10
Table N° 2 Main Adverse Events
Source: Prepared by the author
36 Work stoppage status 3 0.39% 97.11%
37 to 56 20 other types of adverse situations
with a frequency of less than or
equal to two
≤ 2 2.89% 100.00%
Source: Prepared by the author
n.° Adverse Situation related to:
1 Permanence of those in charge of execution
2 Security
3 Revision/Control of valuations
4 Quality of the work
5 Scope of work
6 INFObras Registration
7 T.E. Quality
8 Updating of the work log
9 Presence of the work log
10 Work start conditions

Fiscalizando Journal Nª 26 / Research articles 43
0%
10%
20%
30%
40% 50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
0
100
200
300 400
500
600 700
Pe
r
ma nen cia
de
lo s e
n
ca
r
ga d
os d e
la
e
je
c.
Se gur
id ad
R e
visió
n/C on t
r
ol d e
va lo
r
iza cio nes
C a
lid
ad d e
la
o
br
a
Alca nce d e
la
o
br
a
R e
gist r
o In
fo
br
as
C a
lid
ad d e
l E. T.
Act u
aliza
ción d e
l cu a
der
no d
e
o b
r
a
Pr ese
ncia
de
l cu a
der
no d e
o b
r
a
C o
ndicion es de
in icio
de
o b
r
a
Pe r
fil d
e
l p e
r
so nal cla ve
C u
mp limien t
o d e
la of
e
r
ta – p e
r
so nal cla ve
pr
o puest o
Ma t
e
r
ia les y su
alma
cen
amient o
C u
mp limien t
o d e
la of
e
r
ta – lo gí
st
ica
y o
br
e r
o s
R e
tr
a so
de
o b
r
a – cr
onogr
ama a ct
ualiza
do
Pr oce
so de
p r
e se
nta
ción y
p
ago de
va lo
r
iza ció n
Pr oce
dimient o d
e
se le
cció n
C a
lid
ad d e
l E. T.
d e
a d
icio
nal/ d
e
duct
ivo
F in d e
p la
zo de
o b
r
a
L abor
es d e
su p
er
viso r
Pr uebas d e
la b
or
a tor
io
C o
nco
r
d ancia y co
nte
nido d e
l cu a
der
no d e
o b
r
a .
T r
á mit e d e
a d
ela
ntos d e
o b
r
a
D o
cu
men t
ación co
mp leta d e
l E. T.
At e
nción de
la
e
ntid
ad d e
co n
su
ltas d e
o b
r
a
Pr oce
so de
e va
luació
n d e
a d
icio
nales/ d
e
duct
ivo s
Pr oce
so y a
pr
o bación de
a mp
l.
d e
p la
zo .
Pe r
miso d e
e n
tid
ad es n
a
cio
nales
Eje cu
ción de
a d
icio
nal o
M. M.,
sin ap
r
o bación
C o
nte
nid o co mp
le
to
d e
la
va
lor
iza ció n
Frecuenc ia Ac
umulada (%)
Cantidad
de Situaciones
Adversas
(unid.)
Situaciones A
dv
ersasDiagram
a de Pareto
Figure N° 5. Pareto Diagram of Adverse Situations in Simultaneous
Control of the execution of works under contract
Source: Prepared by the author
66.6 7
%
In this regard, the importance of this
study on the determination of the main
adverse situations that are observed in
the simultaneous control of the
execution of local government works, lies in the fact that it will allow:
Improve the strategy and reduce the
time required to carry out the
simultaneous control of the execution
of public works by local governments,
since control procedures will be
carried out from the planning stage to
determine the main adverse
situations identified in this study.
To inform the team of auditors of the
CGR and other Supreme Audit eInstitutions (SAIs) about the main
adverse situations evidenced in the
simultaneous control of the execution
of public works of local governments
in Peru in the study period (2018-2019).
It will serve as a basis for the
preparation of Visitation Minutes
formats for simultaneous control
operations during the execution of
local government works, since the
Visitation Minutes formats may
include items focused on highlighting
the main adverse situations, and
since these formats are
homogeneous, they may be used in
different works during the reduced
time of an operation.

Fiscalizando Journal Nª 26 / Research articles 44
Improve the training strategy for new
audit personnel who will perform
simultaneous control of the execution
of public works, placing greater
emphasis on the identification of the
main adverse situations that arise in
the execution of works, as detected
in this study.
It should also be noted that the
procedures used in this research and
the benefits obtained can be replicated
for different types of controls, different
matters to be controlled, and be carried
out not only by the CGR but also by the
different SAIs, since the main input of
the research is a representative number
of control reports and the Pareto principle.
Conclusions
1. The Pareto principle was applied to
determine the main adverse
situations evidenced by the OCIs in
the simultaneous controls of works
under contract of the provincial
municipalities, and allowed
identifying ten adverse situations
that represent 66.67% of the types
of adverse situations in the study sample.
This study has several contributions,
the main one being to improve the
strategy and reduce the time
required to carry out the
simultaneous control of the
execution of public works of local
governments, since from the
planning stage control procedures
will be carried out to determine the
main adverse situations identified in
this study.
The CGR’s Control Services Report
Search Engine was vital to the
information gathering process
2. 3.
Recommendations
It is recommended to continue
applying the Pareto Principle for the
improvement of Governmental
Control, not only in the CGR, but
also in the different SAIs.
It is recommended that SAIs
continue to improve the
transparency tools they have, given
that the CGR’s Control Services
Report Search Engine was the
source of information for this study.
Use this study as a basis for
improving the training of the new
audit team that will carry out simultaneous controls.
Bibliography
1. 2. 3.
Abraham Grosfeld-Nir, Boaz Ronen &
Nir Kozlovsky (2007). The Pareto
managerial principle: when does it
apply? International Journal of
Production Research, 45,
2317-2325. DOI: 10.1080/00207540600818203
Office of the Comptroller General of
the Republic. Search engine for CGR
Control Services Reports. Retrieved
from:
https://appbp.contraloria.gob.pe/Bu
scadorCGR/Informes/Inicio.html
Supreme Decree N°
011-2006-VIVIENDA Approving 66
Technical Norms of the National
Building Regulations – RNE. Official
Gazette El Peruano, May 8, 2006. because it allowed access to the reports of the study sample.

Fiscalizando Journal Nª 26 / Research articles 45
Supreme Decree N° 344-2018-EF
Regulation of Law N° 30225, State
Contracting Law. Official Gazette El
Peruano, December 31, 2018.
Directive N° 007-2015-CG/PROCAL
Directive of the Institutional Control
Bodies. Official Gazette El Peruano, December 3, 2015.
Directive No. 002 2019 CG/NORM
Simultaneous Control Service.
Official Gazette El Peruano, March 30, 2019.
Instructions for Format N° 01
registration in the Execution phase
for investment projects Directive N°
003-2017-EF/63.01. Ministry of
Economy and Finance website,
September 14, 2018. Retrieved
from:
www.mef.gob.pe/contenidos/inv_pu
blica/docs/Instructivo_BI/Instructiv
o_Formato_1_ejecucion.pdf
Law No. 30742 Law for
Strengthening the Office of the
Comptroller General of the Republic
and the National Control System.
Official Gazette El Peruano, of March 28, 2018.
Ministry of Economy and Finance.
Friendly Query. Retrieved from:
https://apps5.mineco.gob.pe/transparencia/mensual/
Nelson Shack Yalta (2020).
Semiannual Executive Management
Report July – December 2019.
Retrieved from:
https://doc.contraloria.gob.pe/docu
mentos/INFORME_GESTION_JUL-DIC_2019.pdf
Philip L. Defliese, Henry R. Jaenicke,
Jerry D. Sullivan y Richard A.
Gnospelius (1991). Montgomery
Audit. México: Editorial Limusa.

Fiscalizando Journal Nª 26 / Winners of 2019 CAJ Contest – 1st place
TOWARDS THE DEVELOPMENT OF A COMPREHENSIVE
STRATEGY FOR AUDITING DISASTER RISK MANAGEMENT AND DISASTER MANAGEMENT IN LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN
Author:
Carlos Miguel Gómez Márquez SAI México
Abstract: The research presented
below develops a comprehensive
strategy for SAIs in Latin America and
the Caribbean, led by the recently
created OLACEFS Working Group on
Disaster Auditing within the framework
of the Sustainable Development Goals,
to audit disaster risk management and
the disaster management of national
governments in the region, with the
purpose of moving from the practice of
“ex post” audits upon the occurrence of
a disaster, to the development of
coordinated audits and “ex ante” peer
reviews on this topic, as well as the
creation of an audit network, the
identification of best practices and the
promotion of the use of information and
communication technologies in this area. Conducting the Research
A disaster is a serious disruption of the
functioning of a community or society on
any scale, caused by the occurrence of
hazardous phenomena that interact with
the conditions of exposure, vulnerability
and capacity, causing impacts and life,
health, material, economic and
environmental losses (Andean
Community, 2018, p. 13).
To respond to disasters, national
governments have adopted two types of models:
Disaster management: consists of
the organization and administration
of resources and responsibilities to
address all humanitarian aspects of
emergencies, in particular disaster
response and recovery (IFRC, 2019).
Disaster risk management is the
systematic process of using
organizations, guidelines, skills and
operational capabilities to implement
policies focused on strengthening
disaster prevention and coping
Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science and Public Administration from the Universidad Nacional
Autónoma de México (UNAM) and student of the International Master’s Degree in Food Security
from the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture. Area Director at the Superior
Audit Office of the Federation with 10 years of experience in the practice, coordination, conduction
and supervision of performance audits and evaluations of public policies in the energy, education,
agrarian and science and technology sectors. Member of the National Institute of Public
Administration; the Mexican Academy of Performance Auditing, and the College of Public
Accountants of Mexico. Main research interests: auditing, evaluation, anti-corruption, compliance and due diligence.
Key words: Disaster, disaster risk
management, disaster
management, coordinated audit,
peer review, performance audit, financial audit, compliance audit.
1
46
1

Fiscalizando Journal Nª 26 / Winners of 2019 CAJ Contest – 1st place
The main difference between the two
models is that the former is
characterized as “reactive” and “ex post”
in the face of disasters, since it seeks to
provide responses in the short and
medium term after they occur, while the
latter is characterized as “preventive”
and “ex ante”, since it seeks to evaluate
the risk of disasters occurring in order to
establish measures that will enable, as
far as possible, the repercussions to be
anticipated and possible losses to be
minimized. Both models are necessary
to deal with disasters in a
comprehensive manner.
In this context, every year disasters in
Latin America and the Caribbean claim
the lives of thousands of people, cause
enormous material damage and
generate substantial economic losses,
which represent obstacles to achieving
the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the region.
Due to their social, economic,
environmental and budgetary
repercussions, disasters have been a
priority area of attention for various audit bodies around the world.
In the case of Latin America and the
Caribbean, on April 27, 2019, the
OLACEFS Governing Board approved the
creation of the “Working Group on
Disaster Management Auditing in the
framework of the Sustainable
Development Goals”, with the aim of
promoting cooperation between
Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) for
the development of standards and good
practices in the audit of disaster management.
Likewise, several SAIs in the region have
played an active and constant role in the
“ex-post” audit of the management of
large-scale disasters, as is the case of
the audit institutions of Mexico, Brazil
and Ecuador, which have conducted
performance or operational audits,
financial audits and special reviews
focused on the immediate responses of
national governments and in the reconstruction phase.
Among the main problems identified by
the Superior Audit Office of the
Federation (ASF), the Federal Court of
Accounts (TCU) and the Office of the
Comptroller General of the State (CGE)
in the audit of governmental measures
adopted to respond to disasters are the following:Lack of sufficient and reliable
information to provide a diagnosis of
the magnitude and damage caused
by disasters to support
decision-making on the support to be
granted and the targeting of the
population to be prioritized.
Insufficient coordination on the part
of the agencies responsible for
disaster management, which results
in the lack of timeliness of the measures adopted.
47
capacities in order to reduce the
adverse impact of disasters and the
likelihood of their occurrence.
Disaster risk refers to the potential
losses that a disaster could cause in
terms of lives; health conditions;
livelihoods; assets and services, and
that could occur in a particular
community or society at a specific
period in the future (UNISDR, 2009,
p. 29).

Fiscalizando Journal Nª 26 / Winners of 2019 CAJ Contest – 1st place
Lack of protocols and controls leading
to inefficiencies, as well as a high risk
of fraud and corruption in the delivery of aid.
Insufficient human, material and
financial resources to supervise disaster management.
Deficiencies in contracting processes
that involve delays in the delivery of
works, goods and services;
overpricing, and unnecessary
expenses allocated to aspects that do not correspond to disaster response.
48
Caribbean, it is necessary for the SAIs of
the region to have a common strategy
that allows them to comprehensively
address both disaster management and
disaster risk management, with the aim
of having a greater impact on the
prevention, detection and response to these catastrophes.
This proposed comprehensive strategy
aims to define the general direction to
be followed by SAIs to collaborate, in a
coordinated manner, in the audit of
disaster risk management and disaster
management of national governments in
the region. The six axes that make up
the proposed strategy are the following:
COMPREHENSIVE STRATEGY FOR AUDITING DISASTER RISK MANAGEMENT AND DISASTER MANAGEMENT
SOURCE: Prepared by the author.
In order to strengthen this audit work
throughout Latin America and the
Axes of the Strategy:
a) Conduct coordinated audits to audit the adoption o
f the Sendai
Framework 2015-2030 in disaster risk management.

b) Conduct performance, financial and compliance audits to audit
the management of emerging disasters.

c) Conduct peer reviews to assess the resilience of SAIs i n the
event of disasters.

d) To form a network for the audit of disaster risk management
and disaster management.

e) Identify best practices in this area and assess the feasi bility of
adopting them.

f) Analyze the relevance of promoting the application of
information and communication technologies in disaster risk
management and disaster management.

Fiscalizando Journal Nª 26 / Winners of 2019 CAJ Contest – 1st place
Conclusions
The six axes that make up the
comprehensive strategy described
above are useful and relevant for the
SAIs of Latin America and the Caribbean
to audit both disaster risk management
and the disaster management of
national governments in the region,
which will directly contribute to SAIs
having an active, preventive and
detective role in disaster matters.
It is therefore suggested that the
Working Group on Disaster Auditing
within the framework of the Sustainable
Development Goals analyze the
feasibility of adopting this strategy as
part of its lines of work within the
framework of OLACEFS.
It should be noted that one of the main
problems faced by disaster management
carried out by national governments in
the region is the recurrence of incidents,
despite the warnings previously made by
SAIs about the possible materialization
of the risks detected, as is the case of
the ASF and the TCU, who warned about
deficiencies in the operation of the
Natural Disaster Fund (FONDEN) and in
the safety of dams before the disasters
that occurred in 2017, when two
earthquakes of magnitudes 8. 2 and 7.1
occurred in Mexico, and in 2019, the
year in which one of the dams of the
Feijão mine of Minera Vale S.A. broke,
affecting the municipality of
Brumadinho, Brazil.
In view of this situation, a priority aspect
that the OLACEFS working group should
address is to promote in the region that
the observations and actions formulated
in the audits are effectively taken into
account by the audited entities, so that
they have a real impact on the improvement of the processes of
identification, evaluation, response and
follow-up to disaster risks and disasters
themselves.
In conclusion, far from memorials, what
Latin American citizens really need and
demand is a timely and effective
response from their governments for
recovery and reconstruction in case of
disasters, and SAIs can actively
contribute to achieve this through their audit work.
Bibliography
49
Superior Audit Office of the
Federation. (2018). Reconstruction of
housing affected by the earthquakes
of September 7 and 19, 2017.
Retrieved from:
https://www.asf.gob.mx/Default/Index
Inter-American Development Bank.
(2019). how can an app help prevent
flooding? Retrieved from:
https://www.iadb.org/es/mejorandovi
das/salvados-en-el-gran-chaco
BBC News. (2019). Fiscalização de
barragens: órgão federal de controle é
o 2º mais exposto a fraudes e
corrupção, diz TCU. Retrieved from:
https://www.bbc.com/portuguese/brasil-47211131
BBVA. (2017). The “big data”, ally to
face natural catastrophes such as the
Australian cyclone “Debbie”. Retrieved
from:

https://www.bbva.com/es/big-data-al
iado-afrontar-catastrofes-naturales-ci
clon-australiano-debbie/
Andean Community. (2018). Glossary
of terms and concepts of disaster risk
management for the member
countries of the Andean Community.
Retrieved from: http://www.comunida

Fiscalizando Journal Nª 26 / Winners of 2019 CAJ Contest – 1st place
Framework of the Sustainable
Development Goals. Retrieved from:
http://www.olacefs.com/wp-content/
uploads/2019/04/GT-Fiscalizaci%C3
%B3n-Gesti%C3%B3n-de-Desastres.pdf
Tribunal de Contas da União. (2019).
Brumadinho: TCU vai acompanhar
providências adotadas pela Agência
Nacional de Mineração. Recuperado de:
https://portal.tcu.gov.br/imprensa/n
oticias/brumadinho-tcu-vai-acompan
har-providencias-adotadas-pela-agen
cia-nacional-de-mineracao.htm
Tribunal de Contas da União. (2019).
Comunicação da Presidência.
Recuperado de:
https://portal.tcu.gov.br/data/files/6
E/D3/DC/6B/6BF986106A005186F18
818A8/16229355v4-79%20-%20Brumadinho-MG.pdf
Tribunal de Contas da União. (2019).
TCU alerta que falhas na segurança de
barragens podem causar nova
tragédia. Recuperado de:
https://portal.tcu.gov.br/imprensa/n
oticias/tcu-alerta-que-falhas-na-segu
ranca-de-barragens-podem-causar-n
ova-tragedia.htm
Working Group on Accountability for
and the Audit of Disaster-related Aid.
(2013). Final Report of the INTOSAI
Working Group on Accountability for
and the Audit of Disaster-related Aid.
Retrieved from:
https://www.sayistay.gov.tr/afet/content/final%20report.pdf
50
dandina.org/StaticFiles/20186191338 38GlosarioGestionDeRiesgoSGCA.pdf
Office of the Comptroller General of
the State (2018). Special examination
of the management of resources from
the application of the Organic Law of
Solidarity and Citizen
Co-responsibility for the
Reconstruction and Reactivation of
the Areas Affected by the Earthquake
of April 16, 2016, in the Ministry of
Economy and Finance and Related
Entities, for the period between
September 1, 2016 and July 31,
2017. Retrieved from:
http://www.contraloria.gob.ec/WFDescarga.aspx?id=55146&tipo=inf
International Federation of Red Cross
and Red Crescent Societies. (2019).
Disaster Management. Retrieved from:
https://www.ifrc.org/es/introduccion/
disaster-management/gestion-de-desastres/
United Nations Office for Disaster Risk
Reduction. (2009). Disaster Risk
Reduction Terminology. Retrieved from:
https://www.unisdr.org/files/7817_U
NISDRTerminologySpanish.pdf
United Nations. (2015). Sendai
Framework for Disaster Risk
Reduction 2015-2030. Retrieved from:
https://www.unisdr.org/files/43291_s
panishsendaiframeworkfordisasterri.pdf
United Nations. (2015). Transforming
our world: the 2030 Agenda for
Sustainable Development. Retrieved from:
https://unctad.org/meetings/es/SessionalDocuments/ares70d1_es.pdf
Organization of Latin American and
Caribbean Supreme Audit
Institutions. (2019). Terms of
Reference, Working Group, Audit of
Disaster Management in the
Extended version of this article:
https://www.olacefs.com/1er-pues-
to-concurso-caj-pres-car-
los-gomez-efs-mexico/

Fiscalizando Journal Nª 26 / Winners of 2019 CAJ Contest – 2nd place
OPENNESS OF GOVERNMENT DATA AND ITS BENEFIT FOR TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY
Abstract:
The intelligent adoption of
new technologies in organizations,
regardless of their line of business, is
one of the essential conditions to
improve efficiency and be competitive.
The organization that does not
implement Information and
Communication Technologies (ICT) is
not necessarily less modern, but less
practical.
In the context of Public Management,
governments are called upon to create
Public Value for society, that is, to
produce significant results for the
population through tangible and
intangible services, making use of
different types of resources, including
technology and innovation to offer
transparent and clear management to
citizens, who every day demand better
attention and accountability in the
different services they access; since, in
the exercise of their rights, they wish to
participate more actively in government
decisions and control their results;
hence the need for openness of
government data.
This paper attempts to summarize the
most relevant aspects related to open
data, its characteristics, benefits and Author:
Mariela Ninette Gómez Gurdián SAI Nicaragua
Master’s Degree in Business Informatics. Specialist in Analysis, Design and Implementation of IT Solutions.
Currently responsible for the Information Technology Division of the Office of the Comptroller General of the
Republic of Nicaragua and member of the faculty of the Directorate of Graduate and Continuing Education
(DPEC) of the National University of Engineering (UNI-Nicaragua). Computer Engineer (UNI-Nicaragua, 1999),
Postgraduate in Computer Management (UNICA-Nicaragua, 2000), Master in Business Informatics
(UNI-Nicaragua, 2013), Diploma in Public Management (UNAN-Nicaragua, 2018). Key words:
open data,
transparency, accountability,
horizontal auditing, technology.
1
1
51
use in the horizontal audit that Supreme
Audit Institutions (SAIs) exercise by
legal mandate in each of the countries;
also mentioning, in a general way, the
benefit that these data also represent
for the vertical audit exercised as a
citizen’s right.
Based on the guidelines offered by
organizations such as the Sunlight
Foundation and the World Bank, the
most important elements to consider for
the implementation of open data policies
are presented, as well as the
technological component that
accompanies these initiatives.
The paper concludes by presenting the
progress made with respect to open
government data in Latin America and
the Caribbean (LAC) and the main challenges they face.

Fiscalizando Journal Nª 26 / Winners of 2019 CAJ Contest – 2nd place
Theoretical framework and political considerations. If
government data are made open, it can
have enormous potential benefits
including transparency, efficiency, and
innovation (ECLAC, 2019). For data to
be considered “open,” it must be
re-usable, i.e., it must be downloadable
in open formats, readable by various
software, and users must have the legal right to re-use it (WBG, 2019).
52
Government transparency and the use of ICTs
Government transparency consists of
information on the activities of public
bodies being created and made
available to the public, with limited
exceptions, in a timely manner and in
open data formats with no limits on
reuse. This includes the disclosure of
information in response to citizen
requests and proactively, on public
bodies’ own initiative. In addition, key
information about private entities
should be made available either directly or through public bodies (ECLAC, 2019).
Open Government
The following definition of open
government is one that ECLAC (2019)
provides: “Open Government emerges
as a new paradigm and model of
relationship between government,
administrations and society:
transparent, multidirectional,
collaborative and oriented to citizen participation in both monitoring and
public decision making, from whose
platform or space for action it is possible
to catalyze, articulate and create public
value from and beyond the borders of
state bureaucracies”.
Open data
The idea of open data is that data should
be freely available to all in terms of being able to access, use, and republish
such data, without restrictions of
copyright, patents, or other control or
ownership mechanisms. Opening
government data involves both technical
Horizontal audit and the role of SAIs
The terms vertical audit and horizontal
audit are found in different sources,
both of which refer to accountability,
with the difference that in vertical audit
the executor of the control is the citizen,
as a right to know and evaluate the
government; and in horizontal audit, it
is an entity authorized to exercise
control as a legal competence. In the
Lima Declaration on the Basic Guidelines
of Auditing, issued by the IX Congress of
INTOSAI, in its preamble, it states that
it is essential for each State to have an
effective SAI, whose independence is
guaranteed by law. (Márquez D., n.d.).
Open Data and Open Data Policies
According to the United Nations, we are
facing a “data revolution”, characterized
by an explosion in volume, in the speed
at which data is generated and
disseminated, and in the various
sources and devices in which it is
available. This represents a challenge
for governments, which must become
stewards of information and data, for
which they must foster collaborative
spaces where the generation of value is
enabled through the use of open data
(Muente, A.; Serale, F., 2018).

Fiscalizando Journal Nª 26 / Winners of 2019 CAJ Contest – 2nd place
http://opendatatoolkit.worldbank.org/es/index.htmlCompleteness:
Whether open data is
published in primary forms at the
highest possible level of granularity
allowed by law and other requirements. Timeliness: The speed with which
open data is made available to the
public, so as to preserve its value.
Post-publication management:
Whether a point of contact is designated
to assist with the use of the data and
respond to complaints about
compliance with these open data requirements.
The benefits provided by open data are
varied in both the private and
government sectors. Muente, A.;
Serale, F. (2018) in the publication
Open Data in Latin America and the
Caribbean, mention uses and benefits
provided by open data based on
experiences of countries in the region,
which are summarized as: They help
increase government transparency and
accountability, facilitate greater
detection of acts of corruption,
empower citizens by providing evidence
and strengthening their demands, help
policymakers improve the evaluation of
public problems, and facilitate
collaboration between the private and public sectors.
Open data policies
Since 2012, Latin America and the
Caribbean has been characterized as an
active region in the opening and use of
open data. The region has the largest
2
53
2
Characteristics and benefits of open data
The International Open Data Charter
defines open data as digital data that
are made available to the public with the
necessary technical and legal
characteristics so that they can be freely
used, reused and redistributed by
anyone, anytime, anywhere. Open data
should allow everyone, to access them,
through digital formats; to use them,
through structuring them in formats or
standards that facilitate interoperability;
and to share them, through their legal
certainty and integrity (Muente, A.;
Serale, F., 2018).
Based on the toolbox provided by the
World Bank , some characteristics that
determine the quality of open data are: Public nature: The extent to which
government data is treated, favoring openness.
Accessibility: The extent to which open
data is made available to the public in
convenient, modifiable and open formats.
Description: The degree of detail in
descriptions of open data so that
consumers have sufficient information to understand and process it. Reusability: Whether open data is
made available under an open license that does not place restrictions on use.

Revista Fiscalizando Nª 26 / Winners of 2019 CAJ Contest – 2nd place
number of adoptions of the
International Open Data Charter, and
has been a relevant actor in the
definition of its principles (Muente, A.;
Serale, F., 2018). Also, on the website
of the Regional Observatory of Planning
for the Development of Latin America
and the Caribbean , the list of countries
that are part of the Open Government
Partnership can be verified; however,
not all of them have an action plan in force.
Based on the guidelines offered by the
Sunlight Foundation, it can be
summarized as follows what should be
taken into account to implement an
open data policy. What data should be public?
Establish open data by default, create
open data policies in reference to
existing accountability and access to
public information policies, provide for
the publication of specific new
information, stipulate that the
conditions apply to contractors or semi-public entities, appropriately
guard sensitive or reserved
information, require that the exception
to publication of certain data be in
consideration of the public interest,
require code sharing or the publication of open source data. How to create public data?
Assign open formats for government
data, require public information to be published online, remove restrictions
on access to information, remove
restrictions on reuse of information,
require publication of metadata or
other documentation, mandate the use
of unique identifiers, require
digitization and distribution of printed
files, create a portal or website
dedicated to data publication and
related policy issues, publish data in
repositories, create public application
programming interfaces (APIs) for data
access, stipulate electronic filing of
data release requests, establish
continuous data publication and
updates, create permanent and enduring data access.
How to implement an open data policy?
Appoint or create an oversight
authority, create mandatory
implementing regulations or
guidelines, create new legal rights or
other mechanisms, incorporate public
perspectives into policy
implementation, set appropriately
ambitious timelines for
implementation, create processes to
ensure data quality, create a public and
comprehensive list of all data exploits,
ensure sufficient funding for
implementation, link the award of
contracts for new systems to
compliance with transparency, create
or exploit the potential for
public-private partnerships, establish
future reviews for potential
improvements or modifications to the
policy.
54
https://observatorioplanificacion.cepal.org/es/tratados/alianza-para-el-gobierno-abierto?page=0 https://sunlightfoundation.com/opendataguidelines/es/
http://sunlightf.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/OpenDataGuidelines_v3.pdf
34 3
4

Fiscalizando Journal Nª 26 / Winners of 2019 CAJ Contest – 2nd place
The Application of Open Data:
Transparency and Horizontal Auditing
Among the benefits of using open data,
summarized by the World Bank in its
Open Government Data Toolkit, are:
transparency, as open data supports
public oversight of governments. They
also contribute to efficiency, as they
make it easier and cheaper for
government ministries to find and use
their own data or data from other
ministries, reducing collection cost,
duplication costs and other general costs.
In the specific case of horizontal audits
carried out by SAIs, open data greatly
facilitate their work because: they
make it easier to determine risk
indicators and consequently better
plan the audits to be carried out; they
allow greater detection of acts of
corruption; they reduce audit
execution times because they provide
abundant information to be analyzed;
they facilitate the analysis of
information; they provide access to
information at all times; they make it
possible to analyze more data and
therefore use a better sample; they
contribute to the quality of the audits
and the auditing role of the SAI.
The Technological Component
Implementing open data policies
requires a purely technological
component that must be properly considered and valued, from the
selection of the model (infrastructure)
to the specific technology to be used.
There is no single scheme to follow for
the implementation of the technological component.
The guidance provided by the World
Bank in the Open Government Data
Toolkit includes a specific section on technology . Data catalog, platform and models
55
http://opendatatoolkit.worldbank.org/es/
http://opendatatoolkit.worldbank.org/es/technology.html
56 5
6
Data catalog: is a list of datasets
available in an open data initiative.
Typically, a data catalog is the central
online element of an open data
initiative. Some common
characteristics of data catalogs are:
easy access for users, easy search,
available for download, metadata,
clear licensing for data use, allow
preview, meet certain standards, API interface, and are secure. Platform: constitutes the online
gateway for users to have available
all the resources of an open data
initiative. A platform includes the
data catalog and other information
and services that are part of the open
data ecosystem. The services of a
platform are usually implemented
using different technologies (not just one).
Models (Infrastructure): at the
technological infrastructure level,
models can vary. In the open

Fiscalizando Journal Nª 26 / Winners of 2019 CAJ Contest – 2nd place
https://opendatabarometer.org7
committed to the open data agenda.
However, these authors, also indicate
that, the region has more than 200
open data portals; however, only 13
countries have central portals and
many of the published datasets do not
have purely open data. The same
source states that seven countries in
LAC have consolidated their national
open data policies: Argentina, Brazil,
Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico, Peru and
Uruguay.
The fourth edition of the Open Data
Barometer (ODB ) confirms that, while
some governments are making
progress, open data is still the
exception rather than the rule.
Therefore, it can be concluded that
there are still many challenges in this
area. Muente, A.; Serale, F., (2018),
mention that openness by default has
numerous challenges for governments, among them:
7
56
government data toolbox offered by
the World Bank, three are proposed,
which vary in the relationship
between the different elements that
are part of the model and the scales
of the systems. Single platform:
simple infrastructure, with a single
server managed by the relevant
agency or hosted in the cloud,
datasets managed by APIs, managed
separately following the
requirements of the technologies that
correspond to them, blog functions,
user support and comments can be
provided through the same
infrastructure used in the catalog.
Separate servers: separate
management of the data catalog and
file server using in-house or cloud
hosted infrastructure, more
sophisticated approach than the
single platform model and is more
suitable for larger datasets and
catalogs. Federated catalogs,
management of the open data
catalog can be decentralized to one
or more of the contributing
ministries; in this approach, some
data files or API services are
managed from separate ministries,
while metadata is still incorporated
into the central catalog to enable
cross-ministry searches and access,
this model is suitable when one or
more ministries have the capacity
and expertise to manage their own open data.
Progress in the Region and the Main Challenges
According to Muente, A.; Serale, F.,
(2018), LAC is a region highly Regulation:
Access to Information
Laws need to be revised to
encourage the release of data,
indicating exceptions to publication
based on privacy, confidentiality and
intellectual property. Governance: Define responsibilities
for data generation and publication.
A widely used model consists of
decentralizing responsibility for data
generation to the sectoral level, and
interoperating with a central
authority, which should define the
standards for data quality,
publication, structuring and identification.

Fiscalizando Journal Nª 26 / Winners of 2019 CAJ Contest – 2nd place
Technology: To have a platform
that allows interoperability between
the different data generated by the
decentralized entities and the
central entity that manages the
platform and establishes data
governance. It is also necessary to
generate technical capacities at the
decentralized level to produce data
automatically. In addition, it is
necessary to invest in technological
resources and human capital so that
these entities can generate, share and use their data.
In particular, for SAIs, there are
specific challenges related to
technological aspects, which have to
do with the investment in technology
that SAIs must consider for the use of
open data, both in the infrastructure as
such, as well as in technical training for
staff managing this new technology
and the sustainability over time of the
investment. Also, concerning human
resources, which implies that the staff
performing audits should be trained to
exploit these new technological tools and data analysis methodologies.
Conclusions
In conclusion, it can be said:
57
Bibliography
The use of open data by SAIs, within
their horizontal audit mandate,
would have relevant benefits in the
fight against corruption,
transparency and accountability of
governments.
The technological component is a
very important element in the
implementation of open data and
there is no single model for its
execution, which varies in the
relationship between the different
elements that are part of the model and the scales of the systems.
LAC has made significant progress in
the area of open data. According to
the Open Data Barometer, Mexico is
the leader in open data in the
region. However, this progress is still insufficient.
Governments and SAIs in the region
have significant political, legal and
technological challenges for the use of open data.

Principles

8 8
Open data is an extremely useful
tool for governments in which
transparency and accountability are
primary objectives of their
management. The implementation
of open data requires clearly
established government policies
based on the principles of the Open Data Charter . IADB (2018). Digital technologies
for transparency in public
investment. [Online], available at
https://publications.iadb.org/public
ations/spanish/document/Tecnologi
as-digitales-para-la-transparencia-
en-la-inversion-publica.pdf.
[Retrieved July 2019].
ECLAC (2014). Role of ICTs in public
management and planning for
sustainable development in Latin
America and the Caribbean.

Fiscalizando Journal Nª 26 / Winners of 2019 CAJ Contest – 2nd place
[Online], available at
https://www.cepal.org/es/publicaci
ones/35951-rol-tic-la-gestion-publi
ca-la-planificacion-un-desarrollo-so
stenible-america. [Retrieved July 2019].
ECLAC (2019). From Open
Government to Open State.
[Online], available at
https://biblioguias.cepal.org/Estad
oAbierto/concepto. [Retrieved July 2019].
ECLAC (n.d). Economic Commission
for Latin America and the Caribbean
(ECLAC), Regional Observatory on
Development Planning for Latin
America and the Caribbean [online]
https://observatorioplanificacion.ce
pal.org. [Retrieved July 2019].
Márquez D., (n.d). Márquez Gómez,
Daniel. The role of auditing:
advances, setbacks and projections
in light of the 2009 reform. [online]
https://archivos.juridicas.unam.mx
/www/bjv/libros/6/2739/13.pdf
[Retrieved July 2019].
Muente, A.; Serale, F. (2018). Open
data in latin america and the
caribbean. [Online], available at
https://publications.iadb.org/es/pu
blicacion/los-datos-abiertos-en-am
erica-latina-y-el-caribe. [Retrieved July 2019].
WBG (2019). World Bank Group,
Government open data toolkit.
[Online], available at
http://opendatatoolkit.worldbank.o
rg/es/index.html. [Retrieved July 2019].
58
Extended version of this article:
https://www.olacefs.com/2do-pues-
to-concurso-caj-pres-marie-
la-gomez-efs-nicaragua/

Fiscalizando Journal Nª 26 / Winners of 2019 CAJ Contest – 3rd place
WHAT WOULD YOU DO? STRENGTHENING
INSTITUTIONAL INTEGRITY THROUGH ETHICAL
Authors:
Nicolás Lagos Machuca
Tamara Loyola Fuentes SAI Chile
Abstract: This paper will be structured
in four sections. The first one reflects on
the value of integrity for SAIs. Then, the
experience of the Office of the
Comptroller General of the Republic of
Chile (CGR) in strengthening integrity
will be discussed. Thirdly, the new
approach to ethics training for CGR
officials will be presented, from a model
of normative training to one focused on
ethics training through gamification
tools. Finally, some lessons learned or
good practices that may be useful in the
replication of these models in other SAIs in the region will be concluded.
Integrity and its relevance to the work of SAIs
The knowledge of important corruption
cases in recent years has placed
integrity at the center of public opinion
and citizens’ interests. For this reason, it
is relevant to understand the meaning and scope of this term. The concept of integrity has its most
accepted definition in the RAE (2019) as
the quality of an upright, proven and
unimpeachable person. The INTOSAI
defines integrity as “acting honestly,
reliably, in good faith and in the public
interest” (INTOSAI, 1992, p. 5). It is
recognized as one of the core ethical
values of SAIs that “define what is
important and should therefore drive
the decisions of SAIs and SAI staff”
(INTOSAI, 1992, p. 5). The concept of
integrity is a term that transcends the
legal to be placed in the framework of
organizational ethics, since it aims to
guide and influence the behavior of officials.
Towards a culture of institutional
integrity: the case of the CGR of Chile
a) Design and installation of the Institutional Integrity System
In October 2018, the CGR of Chile
formalized the creation of an
Institutional Integrity System (SII). Its
establishment, arose from a project that
involved carrying out activities to install
the concept of integrity within the
organization (Altamirano, et al., 2017),
Public Administrator, Master in Government and Public Management and Academic of the School of Government
and Public Management of the Universidad de Chile.
Public Administrator, with a Master’s degree in Government and Public Management and postgraduate studies in
human rights, transparency and public policies against corruption.
1
Key words: Integrity, ISSAI 130,
integrity system, training, ethical
training, gamification.
59
2
1 2

Fiscalizando Journal Nª 26 / Winners of 2019 CAJ Contest – 3rd place
the IntoSAINT workshop was also
organized, which enabled it to lay the
foundations of the System, which
resulted in the drafting of an
Institutional Integrity Policy (PII). The
proposal was drafted in a participatory
manner with the help of more than 20
employees. The document was
submitted to the Comptroller General
for subsequent evaluation and
approval.
The PII considered a central and
minimum milestone for the installation
of the SII: the appointment of an
official dedicated exclusively to its
implementation. To achieve this, a
competition was held with objective
criteria and open to CGR members,
which resulted in the appointment of a
female functionary to the position of
Integrity Officer.
b) The starting point: diagnosis of ethics training at the CGR
As established by the IIP, the
installation of the system is implemented through a training line,
carrying out initiatives to develop and
strengthen the ethical behavior of
employees (Office of the Comptroller
General of the Republic of Chile, 2018).
For the diagnosis, information was
gathered on trainings aimed at raising
the ethical behavior of CGR staff. Since
2016, there has been a sustained
growth in the number of quotas
delivered, which could have been
enhanced by the implementation of the
2017-2020 Strategic Plan. Particularly,
in 2019, 94% of the institution has
been trained. In this sense, it is
confirmed that the implementation of
the SII encouraged the implementation
of activities focused on developing
attitudes related to the integrity of the
staff.
c) Training challenge: how to
develop ethical attitudes in personnel
The implementation of the SII poses a
challenge in capacity building activities,
broadening the training horizon beyond
regulatory aspects. In this context, two
training activities were carried out in
2019: the online course “Institutional
Integrity” and the workshop “Integrity
and Codes: relationship with our work”,
the latter given in person by the
Integrity Officer, aims to recognize the
value of integrity and provide a training
space to face ethical dilemmas. This is
the first activity aimed at improving the
ethical attitudes of employees in recent
years and presents innovations in
terms of training, such as the
incorporation of gamification elements.
60

Revista Fiscalizando Nª 26 / Ganadores Concurso CAJ 2019 – 3er puesto
Strengthening the integrity of the staff through gamification

With the purpose of proposing a
methodology for SAIs to enhance the
development of attitudes and training in
the face of ethical dilemmas of their
officials, the work carried out by the
CGR of Chile in the preparation and
execution of the workshop “Integrity
and Codes: relation with our work” is
presented. The following are three
stages from which the training process is understood.
1. Planning

1.1 Methodological definitions
The defined objective was to encourage
the institution’s personnel to identify
how the value of integrity is related to
their daily work, encouraging individual
and group reflection on ethical
dilemmas relevant to the institutional
reality.
At this stage, the activity’s guiding
program was established, with
continuity and logic between the
objective and the contents. The
program defined had three modules: The target audience of the workshop
was the personnel of all the Regional
Offices, with a methodological design
for the participation of a maximum of
50 officials in each workshop.
1.2 Preparation of Material
Considering the program, it is
necessary to prepare the material for
the activity. This implies preparing the
contents, presentation and didactic
material for the group dynamics. The latter will be explained in detail later on.
2. Execution
2.1 Introduction and context
The first part of the activity focuses on
providing notions about concepts
related to integrity, the work performed
as a public official and the Codes of
Ethics and Conduct. This lays the
groundwork for the dynamic that follows.
2.2 Game: What would you do?

It is necessary to create dynamics that
encourage spaces for conversation and
reflection on the performance of civil
servant life with integrity standards.
This is why the activity “What would you
do?” was created, based on
gamification trends, proposing a game
that involves the participants in a
competition to be the most honest and
promote ethical reflection in the face of dilemmas.
Gamification is the use of game design
methodologies in non-game contexts
61
Integrity and values:
contextualizes integrity, Codes of
Ethics and Conduct and the work of
public servants. Game – What would you do?:
development of group dynamics. Final reflections and closing:
reflection on group dynamics and
ethical dilemmas, highlighting the importance of public work.

Fiscalizando Journal Nª 26 / Winners of 2019 CAJ Contest – 3rd place
to engage users and solve problems,
these are based on how games can
maintain the participant’s interest and
facilitate the learning experience
(Werbach & Hunter, 2012; Paniagua &
Istance, 2018). By playing “What would
you do?” officials can approach ethical
dilemmas from a recreational
perspective, fostering a willingness to
reflect and developing attitudinal
aspects related to “knowing how to be”
and “knowing how to act” as public
servants of integrity.
a. What is the purpose of the game?
That participants recognize difficult
situations and make decisions in the
face of ethical dilemmas, contributing
to integrate values and principles
framed in the Codes of Ethics and Conduct in daily decision making.
b. Preparation of material
The game consists of a set of cards:
voting card (angel and demon), ethical
dilemma cards and individual voting record booklet.
The elaboration of the dilemmas is
relevant for this activity, since the
dynamism of the game depends on
them. The dilemmas should represent
everyday situations that staff members
could face in their work and that could
be a potential source of conflict. In
addition, for each dilemma established,
three possible solutions should be
proposed, which should not be considered ethical.
For this activity, 21 dilemma cards were
developed. This was done based on the
application of this activity in otherChilean public entities and the CGR
Codes of Ethics and Conduct. The
objective is that each situation raised in
the card can find its possible solution
considering the values and behavioral guidelines established in these tools.
c. Game dynamics
The group is divided into teams of 5
people and, using the set of cards, the
player in turn is exposed to cases that
raise ethical dilemmas and possible
solutions. The rest of the players must
vote on the credibility of what the
player in turn has argued through the angel card.
The game ends when all team members
have faced the different ethical
dilemmas. Each participant must add up
the total of angels and demons obtained
in each turn, whoever has the most angels wins. d. Plenary

Once the activity is over, the moderator
encourages participation by asking the
groups different questions: which card
generated the most debate and why?
Which alternative was chosen? Which
institutional values and which areas of
the Code of Conduct are involved in the
dilemma? Which is the solution that could be considered correct?
e. Closing activity
Once debate and reflection on the
ethical dilemmas have been generated,
the moderator closes the activity by
emphasizing the importance of the
Codes of Ethics and Conduct as tools
that serve as a guide for the officers.
62

Fiscalizando Journal Nª 26 / Winners of 2019 CAJ Contest – 3rd place
3. Evaluation

3.1 Application of satisfaction survey
This survey evaluates: the experience
of the training, the program of the
activity, the quality of the trainer,
general evaluation, applicability of
contents and improvements. For each
aspect, different statements are
presented, to which the participant
must respond on a scale of 1 to 5,
where 1 is “in total disagreement” and
5 is “in total agreement”. There are
also open questions that allow for comments.
3.2 Data analysis
The results obtained have a coverage
percentage of 93.8% of the total
number of workshop attendees. The
activity had a positive reception, the
averages are in the highest evaluation
range. The category with the highest
level of satisfaction is regarding the
program of the activity, with the
learning objectives being clear and
coherent with the contents and the
appropriate methodology that kept the
participant involved and active, the
highest scoring statements. This
reinforces the gamification component
to maintain interest and enhance the
learning experience. Comments
received support these results: “it was
good to learn about the concept of
ethics and good practices in a more
dynamic way” and “it makes it easier to
apply the standard to reality”. 80% of
those surveyed indicated that what
they learned in the activity is
applicable to the work they do. It is necessary to establish that the
objective of the game is misleading,
since the instructions state that the
winner of the game will be the one who
obtains the greatest number of angels,
so that players are predisposed to
select the ethical alternative to each
dilemma. However, what this dynamic
rewards is honesty, since the
alternatives posed to the dilemmas do
not reflect the “correct” solution path.
Thus, the players, despite selecting an
alternative considered incorrect, must
argue their choice and the rest of the
players will vote whether or not they
believe in what has been proposed.
The game puts the players in difficult
situations. These are generated when
officials are confronted with the
dilemma and their alternatives and
realize that none of them conforms to
what is called correct. For their part,
the officials who evaluate the game
feel disgruntled when determining the
credibility of the response of the player
on duty, since they are exposed to the
dilemma of believing in their rationale
or believing in what their partner would
do in reality. This implies that the
63

Fiscalizando Journal Nª 26 / Winners of 2019 CAJ Contest – 3rd place
exercise generates an instance of
relaxation in the face of issues
considered difficult to address and
causes moments of reflection on the
dilemmas posed. It is likely that the
groups will discuss what they would
really do when faced with the problem
at stake, as well as comment on
similar experiences. This is in line with
the OECD’s recommendation to foster
a culture of transparency within
organizations, where ethical dilemmas
and integrity-related concerns can be
freely debated (OECD, 2017).
Conclusions, lessons learned and best practices
It is possible to identify three major
lessons learned that, in turn, highlight
priority challenges for SAIs in Latin America and the Caribbean:
a. Involve the head of the
institution so that everyone
commits to integrity: At the
organizational level, the commitment
of the heads of the institutions is
essential to strengthen the ethical
climate of the entity. Thus, it is
recommended that the leader of the
institution allocate at least one hour of
his or her work week to get involved in
the process and communicate the
importance of these actions to the rest of the institution.
b. Transition from normative
training to ethical training: The
consolidation of an organizational
ethical culture should be considered as
a cornerstone in the training of its
staff. SAIs must ensure that integrity
is a continuum. It is vital to promote
training related to integrity issues and
ethics training as part of an ongoing
64
program and not as isolated initiatives
without a recognizable general
framework for staff members.
c. Measuring the ethical climate
in the SAI: It is advisable that any
initiative to strengthen institutional
integrity be complemented with tools
to evaluate the efficiency and
effectiveness of the measure and,
above all, to measure the impact it has
had on the perception and ethical
behavior of the staff.
The challenges posed as a conclusion
to this document seek to contribute to
the reflection on how SAIs can deepen
and strengthen the ethical climate
within the organization. Currently, we
can find many techniques and
methodologies that, if properly
implemented, can raise the ethical
standard and guide the behavior of
SAI officials. The most important thing
is that organizations as a whole
manage to promote the necessary
changes so that, in a context of
institutional crisis and multiple cases
of corruption, organizational integrity
is the most valuable and valued asset
for SAIs and citizens in general.
Bibliography
Altamirano, S., Crisóstomo, W.,
Dequero, P., Guzmán, S., Hidalgo,
M., Jara, M., & Lagos, N. (2017).
Designing an integrity system in
the Office of the Comptroller
General of the Republic of Chile:
the participatory development of
the integrity policy as a starting
point. Journal of the Latin American
and Caribbean Organization of
Supreme Audit Institutions, 17 – 20.

Superior Audit Office of the
Federation. (2015). Integrity and
Corruption Prevention in the Public
Sector. Mexico: Auditoría Superior
de la Federación.
Bautista, O. D. (April 1, 2005).
Master’s Thesis. Retrieved from
Universidad Complutense de
Madrid:
https://eprints.ucm.es/7816/1/tesis-maestr%C3%ADa_2.pdf
Bisquerra, R., & Pérez, N. (2007).
The Emotional Competencies. Educación XXI, 61-82.
Office of the General Comptroller of
the Republic of Chile. (2016).
Approves Institutional Strategic Plan. Santiago: CGR.
Office of the Comptroller General of
the Republic of Chile. (2018).
Institutional Integrity Policy.
Santiago de Chile: Office of the
Comptroller General of the Republic of Chile.
Latinobarómetro Corporation.
(2018). 2018 Report. Santiago de
Chile: Corporación
Latinobarómetro.
INTOSAI. (1992). ISSAI 30: Code
of Ethics. Vienna, Austria: INTOSAI Professional Standards Committee.
Jimenez Asensio, R. (2017). How to
prevent corruption: Integrity and
Transparency. Madrid, Spain:
Catarata.
United Nations. (1996).
International code of conduct for
public office holders. New York, United States: United Nations.
United Nations. (2004). United
Nations Convention against
Corruption. New York, United
States: United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.
OECD. (2017). Supreme Audit
Institutions and good governance:
Oversight, reporting and vision.
Paris, France: OECD Editions.
Fiscalizando Journal Nª 26 / Winners of 2019 CAJ Contest – 3rd place 65
OECD. (2017). Public Integrity.
Paris, France: OECD.
Paniagua, A., & Istance, D. (2018).
Techaers as Designers of Learning
Environments: The Importance of
Innovative Pedagogies. Paris:
Educational Research and
Innovation, OECD Publishing. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1987/9789264085374-en
RAE. (August 01, 2019).
Integridad. Retrieved from Real
Academia Española:
https://dle.rae.es/?id=LqNlFID
Roig, A. (28 May 2015). The four
examples of gamification in HR.
Retrieved from Talent Clue:
http://blog.talentclue.com/los-4-ejemplos-de-gamificacion-en-rrhh
Transparency International.
(2017). People and corruption:
Latin America and the Caribbean.
Berlin: Transparency Internactional.
Werbach, K., & Hunter, D. (2012).
For the Win: How game thinking
can revolutionize your business.
Pennsylvania, USA: Wharton Digital Press.
Extended version of this article:
https://www.olacefs.com/3er-pues-
to-concurso-caj-pres-nico-
las-lagos-tamara-loyola-efs-chile/

Fiscalizando Journal Nª 26 / Winners of 2019 CAJ Contest – 3rd place
PUBLIC HEARINGS AS A MECHANISM FOR CITIZEN
PARTICIPATION AND THEIR IMPACT ON GOVERNMENTAL CONTROL FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF PUBLIC SERVICES
Author:
Cynthia Milagros Núñez Segura SAI Peru 1
Abstract: Citizens in general have
perceived the absence of spaces oriented
to citizen participation and that the level
of corruption in the case of Peru
generates distrust and uneasiness of the
citizenry towards Public Entities.
This research has shown the existence of
mechanisms for citizen participation that
are executed at the national and
international level, such as Public
Hearings, in which citizens are informed
of the state of affairs of the
administration and the competencies of
the entities regarding the collection of
fees, services, among others. Likewise,
they have a participatory fiscal control
approach, attending citizen requests that
contribute to government decisions.
In this regard, SAI Peru, within the
framework of transparency, has
implemented the Public Hearings
program where citizens, through social
control, contribute to governmental
control by providing key information to
identify alleged irregularities in the use
of public goods and resources that may
lead to the execution of control services.
SAI Peru generates trust by building
bridges of direct communication with
citizens and is committed to the
implementation of the Sustainable
Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda.
Lawyer from Universidad Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, Master in Public Management from EUCIM Business School,
graduate of the Master in Criminal Law from Universidad Nacional Federico Villareal and of the Master in Public
Management from Universidad San Martín de Porres, Extrajudicial Conciliator, Specialist in Budget, Auditing
and Governmental Control, Labor Law, Governance, Political Management and Public Management. She has
also studied Citizen Participation, Sustainable Development Goals, Open Government, Public Policy and Public
Innovation.
1 Key words:
Citizen participation,
SAIs, public hearings, citizen
alerts, governmental control,
control services, OLACEFS and civil
society organizations.
66
The public hearings have been
investigated in digital media, showing
that at the national level, citizens are
informed about the status of the
management of state entities for the
collection of fees, services, among
others. At the international level, it has
the approach of participatory fiscal
control in which the requests of citizens
are attended in order to include them in
government decisions.
Public Hearings in Peru
Public Hearings are a mechanism for
citizen participation used by the SAI
Peru with the objective of being
accountable for the control services that
are executed in a decentralized manner
at the national level and to receive
citizen alerts on alleged irregularities in
the use of public goods and resources.

The analysis has determined that this
program contributes to the SDGs of the
2030 Agenda, under a transparency
model, generating a participatory and
co-produced space between citizens
and the SAI Peru.
In the Public Hearings, citizens take the
floor to warn of alleged irregularities in
the use of public goods and resources.
This action has been called “citizen
alert”, turning citizens into strategic
allies of government control. A citizen
alert should be understood as
“Information provided by a citizen on an
alleged irregular act related to the use
of public goods and resources,
committed by authorities or persons
working in public entities” (Office of the
Comptroller General of the Republic, 2019).
Through the Public Hearings, CSO
representatives and citizens exercise
Fiscalizando Journal Nª 26 / Winners of 2019 CAJ Contest – 3rd place
their duty of social control. “These
duties are closely linked to the concept
of freedom, in the understanding that
society will be free to the extent that it
is self-governed by its citizens, through
the exercise of deliberation and
decision-making on public affairs”
(ECLAC, 2015). In this way, they
assume an active and vigilant role in the
use of public resources, so that no official uses them for personal benefit.
Stages of the Public Hearing Process
For its execution, there must be a list of
qualified provinces that meet the
criteria of accessibility, connectivity,
social conflicts, in order not to put the
citizens at risk. SAI Peru prepares the
“Public Hearing Schedule”, which is
disseminated to the general public. The
following chart shows the stages of the Public Hearing:
67
Source: Prepared by the Deputy Manager of Citizen
Participation of the SAI Peru.

Stage 1: Informative Workshops prior to the Public Hearings:
From the experience of the execution of
the 128 Public Hearings held in 2018
and 2019, it has been noticed that 24%
of the citizen alerts presented in the
hearings contain general information, in
this context, previous Informative
Workshops have been carried out, with
the objective of improving the quality of
the information collected through the
citizen alerts, generating quality input
for governmental control. Likewise, the
purpose is to sensitize the
representatives of the CSO on their role
as citizens and the competencies of the
SAI Peru.
On this matter, the results of the
informative workshops reflect that most
of the participants understood the
competencies of the SAI, improved the
quality of information of the citizen
alerts and positively valued the
Fiscalizando Journal Nª 26 / Winners of 2019 CAJ Contest – 3rd place
Source: Prepared by the Communications
Department of the SAI Peru.presence of the SAI in the provinces.
Likewise, social control is promoted,
which contributes to governmental
control and sustainability over time.
Stage 2: Planning and Preparatory Activities
68
Organization:
Announcement,
costs, medical care, location and logistics.
Call for participants: Public,
Congress members and CSO
representatives.
Registration of participants:
In-person, by telephone and virtual.
Preparation of the PH program:
Maximum duration of three (3) hours.
Stage 3: Conducting the Public Hearing Proceedings of the Public Hearing:
Public
Hearings
2018-2019

Fiscalizando Journal Nª 26 / Winners of 2019 CAJ Contest – 3rd place
Stage 4: Follow-up of Actions from Public Hearings
Citizen alerts submitted by citizens and
CSOs must be dealt with in a timely
manner by the Regional Control Offices. The alerts will be entered into the
“Citizen Alert System”, considering the
following: the citizen’s details, identity
document, entity subject to control and
summary of the alerted facts. The
system will display the status of the
citizen alert and the types of control
services executed for the respective
follow-up. Participants in Public Hearings:
In
the 128 Public Hearings executed during
2018 and so far in 2019, it has been
noted that citizen participation of the
female gender in public affairs is lower
than the male gender, so it has been
deemed necessary to activate strategies
in order to empower this gender and
disseminate the importance of their participation.
69
SAI Peru will have a space to render
accounts of the control services that
are being carried out in the province
where the Public Hearing will take place.
Citizens and CSOs will be able to take
the floor, alerting about alleged
irregularities in the use of public goods and resources.
The SAI, through the Regional
Control Offices, will evaluate and
address citizen alerts in a timely
manner.
Source: Prepared by the author.
Social control and its impact on governmental control : Of the 3008
citizen alerts presented in the 128 Public
Hearings carried out in 2018 and 2019
and evaluated by the SAI Peru, through the Regional Control Offices, it has been
noted that social control is a strategic
ally of governmental control, as evidenced below:

Fiscalizando Journal Nª 26 / Winners of 2019 CAJ Contest – 3rd place
Likewise, the result of the citizen alerts
presented in the Public Hearings has
generated the execution of seven (7)
70
Source: Prepared by the authorex-post control services in the
Compliance Audit modality, which are detailed below:

Fiscalizando Journal Nª 26 / Winners of 2019 CAJ Contest – 3rd place
The results reflect that the social
control exercised by citizens and CSO
representatives in the Public Hearings
is a practice of social innovation that
allows them to become involved in
public affairs, working in a
co-produced manner and generating throughout Peru to show results of
the intervention in the execution of
control services, generating public
value and demonstrating that SAI
Peru is a transparent entity with the
citizenry.
Social control has an impact on
governmental control, because
based on citizen intervention, the
SAI focuses its intervention on the
planning of non-programmed
control services and as input for
control services to be considered in its annual plans.
Likewise, it has been evidenced
that the mechanism of citizen
participation in public hearings
allows citizens to monitor the
71
social and participatory
transformation. In this sense, the
citizen alerts originated in the Public
Hearings are integrated in the Audit
cycle as part of the governmental control in the following stages:
Source: Prepared by the author
Conclusions
Public hearings at the national and
international level have an impact
on the management of the entities
through citizen participation;
however, it is noted that they are
only carried out in the capitals of
the cities, leaving aside the remote
provinces where the absence of the State has been evidenced.
The collaboration of citizens and
CSOs through social control in the
oversight processes and their
involvement in the co-production of
public policies is a key element for the modernization of the State.
The Public Hearings program seeks
to reach the most remote provinces
Social control integrated with governmental control

Fiscalizando Journal Nª 26 / Winners of 2019 CAJ Contest – 3rd place
Bibliography
72
recommendations of the control
reports resulting from compliance audits.
The SAI Peru is committed to
generating change and
ECLAC. (2015). Participatory
planning to achieve structural
change with equality. Santiago de Chile, Chile: United Nations.
Office of the Comptroller General of
the Republic. (April 17, 2019).
Guidelines for the Public Hearings
of the Regional Control Offices.
Lima, Lima, Peru.
Ministry of Justice and Human
Rights. (2016). Political
Constitution of Peru. Lima: BERNUY E.I.RL.
Velásquez C., F., & Gonzáles R., E.
(2003). What has happened to
citizen participation in Colombia? Bogotá: LitoCamargo Ltda.
modernization of the State,
encouraging spaces for citizen
participation that contribute to the
fulfillment of the SDGs of the 2030 agenda.
Execution of public hearings:
Extended version of this article:
https://www.olacefs.com/3er-pues-
to-concurso-caj-pres-cyn-
thia-n-segura-efs-peru/

USE OF MACHINNE LEARNING TECHNIQUES FOR FRAUD DETECTION IN PUBLIC WORKS CONTRACTS
Fiscalizando Journal Nª 26 / Winners of 2019 CTPBG Contest – 1st place
Abstract: A proposal for a system of
fraud control and detection in public
works contracts, which takes advantage
of the oversight of administrative acts
performed by the Comptroller General of
the Republic of Chile through the legal
control process. First, a system is
proposed for collecting critical data on
construction projects in order to control
the variables that could harm its
development. The second phase of the
proposal is the use of the obtained data
as a source of information to implement
a system based on machine learning
techniques, which helps in the process of
making audit decisions and in detecting
irregularities or abnormalities that are
signs of some sort of fraud. over the legality of the acts of the
Administration and that, in the exercise
of this function, it shall take note of the
decrees and resolutions that in
accordance with the law must be
processed by the Office of the
Comptroller General. The foregoing
implies that in the area of public works,
the State services must send the
background of their respective projects
for review by the Office of the
Comptroller General, which within
fifteen days must carry out a study of
the legality of the administrative act and
determine whether it is approved,
represented or approved with scope.
Now, from the review of the background
information that supports the respective
resolutions, it is possible to obtain a
data set of each project that is
submitted to the Office of the
Comptroller General, assembling a set
of background information that can be
used as input for automated learning
models that warn of irregularities in any
of the factors or variables that affect the
contracts -companies, services,
officials, deadlines, amounts, among others-.
In practice, we can define two stages
according to the timing of data
collection. First, we will have the
73
Author:
Jonathan Nabor López Espinosa SAI Chile
Bachelor’s Degree in Construction, Civil Construction, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. Diploma:
“Specialization in fraud detection techniques”. Universidad de Chile. On line program: “Machine learning,
technologies for decision making”. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Experience of 7 years as Public
Works Auditor, Grade 15. Office of the Comptroller General of the Republic of Chile.
1 1
Key words:
Fraud detection,
public works, auditing.
Conducting the Research 1.1 Proposal for a system of
administrative control and
fraud detection in public works contracts: CENTINELA
The Political Constitution of the Republic
of Chile provides that the Office of the
Comptroller General shall exercise

Fiscalizando Journal Nª 26 / Winners of 2019 CTPBG Contest – 1st place 74
recorded data that can be obtained
thanks to the review of the documents
that accompany the contract award
resolution. Subsequently, data related
to the final contract settlement
resolution can be collected, closing the
project life cycle. Data collected at the award stage. (See table n° 1)
a)
The following is a description of the
selected data of interest to be obtained from the resolutions:
Source: Prepared by the author Table Nº 1
Data collected at the contract settlement stage. (see table 2)
b)
It should be added that this system for
recording construction project data is
also designed to be useful in the
management of the resolutions that
make up each contract. The logic of the
system is that each project is made up
of several resolutions and that the sum
of these gives us a complete picture of the project. With the collection of the data described
above, it will be possible, in the first
place, to have a database of public
works projects that would be
administratively supervised by the
Office of the Comptroller General. On
the other hand, the analysts of this
Auditing Institution will have the input
data for the training of algorithms and
the use of automated learning
techniques that, through the search for
Concept Criterion or values
recorded Concept Criterion or values recorded
Project Identification
•
BIP No.
• Public Market ID
No.
• Project Name
Associated public
service
(List of public services,
origin of the resolution,
Roads-Health Service, etc.)
Type of bidding
• Public bidding
• Private bidding
• Direct deal
Type of contract
• Lump Sum
• Unit price series
• Combination
Amount available
(Original amount
available for the
project) Applicable regulations
(Regulatory framework of
the contract, MOP 75, MOP 108, MOP 265)
Type of project
• Building
• Road works
• Civil works
Type of economic
readjustment
• Polynomial
• IPC
• None
Evaluation
Commission •
Full Name
• RUT
• Position
Evaluation of the
award result
• Contractor Company
• Company RUT
• Status
(awarded/admissible/out of
bid)
• Deadline offered
• Amount offered
Fiscal Inspector •
Full Name
• RUT
• Position Supporting
attachments
(Files in pdf format)
• – Official Journal Notice
• – Complementary Annex
• – Award evaluation report

Fiscalizando Journal Nª 26 / Winners of 2019 CTPBG Contest – 1st place 75
Table Nº 2
Source: Prepared by the author
for patterns, will be able to detect
abnormalities or suspicious behaviors
that, with a certain level of probability, will indicate to the CGR where to audit.
At the close of each project, these can
be evaluated by determining
performance or efficiency indicators or
metrics, depending on how the contract
develops during its term. For example,
construction companies can be
classified according to the level of
penalties they pay on each project, or in
terms of their performance in meeting
contract deadlines. From the
information in the payment statements,
the actual financial flow will be known
and can be compared with the projected
initial flow. In the case of early
termination of contracts, it could be
examined whether there is any relationship between the
mismanagement of the project with the
technical inspector, the professional in
charge or the construction company.
Notwithstanding the above, if what is
sought is the detection of fraud, we
must learn to interpret the data
collected from the projects to compare
them with known irregular acts, such as
the following common and recurrent
mechanisms observed in frauds
committed in public works contracts.
Indications to detect fraud in public
works contracts
c)
Concept Criterion or values
recorded Concept Criterion or values
recorded
Commission for the
reception of works
(Identification of the
designated public
officials)
• Full name
• RUT
• Position
Construction Resident
(Identification of the
professional in charge of
the works)
• Full name
• RUT
• Position
Payment statements •
EEPP No.
• Date
• Invoiced
amount Contract modifications
• Resolution
approving
• Modified
amounts
• Modified terms
Deadline control
• Construction
start date
• Date of
completion of
work
• Contract
settlement date
Record of fines •
Reason
• Amount of fine
Georeferencing GEO CGR Back-up attachments
•
Act of delivery
of land
• Provisional
reception of
works
• Final
acceptance

Fiscalizando Journal Nª 26 / Winners of 2019 CTPBG Contest – 1st place 76
Table Nº 3
Source: Prepared by the author
Mechanism Definition Warning signs
Corruption, bribes and kickbacks It consists of giving or receiving
something of value to influence
an administrative act or
decision.
The contractor pays part of the
bribes in each invoice. The
amounts are inflated or the
quality of the work is lowered to
compensate.
• Favorable treatment
without explanation
• Close social
relationship between a
civil servant and the
contractor
• Increase in the public
official’s wealth
• The public official has a
hidden outside
business
• Unjustified,
undocumented or
frequent changes in
contracts
Covert conflict of interest The civil servant owns a
company that benefits from the
public contract
• Unexplained favoritism
for a certain contractor
• The most expensive
bid is awarded
• Poor quality work
accepted
Collusive bidding Contractors in a given region
conspire to beat the competition,
affecting contract values.
• Winning bid is too high
or too low compared to
the amount available
• There is a rotation of
winners
• Certain companies
compete with each
other and not with
others
• Other bidders do not
submit claims
Fixed specifications Invitations to tender present
technical specifications tailored
to a single bidder, excessively
restrictive to exclude other
bidders, preventing competition.
• Only one bidder is
always submitted
• Complaints from other
contractors
• Stricter technical
specifications than in
other similar projects
Data leakage Staff involved in the design,
bidding or evaluation of bids
filter information to help a bidder
• Failure to comply with
bidding process
deadlines.
• Decrease in the time
period granted for the
study of the proposal
• All bids are rejected
and declared void
without justification.
Bid rigging In a bidding process, an official
may alter a bid to benefit a
certain bidder.
• Bids are invalidated
due to errors
• Bids are left out of the
base for questionable
reasons
Unjustified procurement from a single
bidder
Closely associated with
corruption, direct deals are
made, or contracts are split to
circumvent reviews. Extensions
of previous contracts without
• Contracts awarded by
direct deal for amounts
lower than the
thresholds of the legal
control process.

Fiscalizando Journal Nª 26 / Winners of 2019 CTPBG Contest – 1st place
Now, if we assign numerical values to
these warning signs, it is possible to
parameterize these acts to generate a
fraud risk pyramid in which we can
locate the factors and variables
surrounding the projects. These could be
studied and analyzed to determine which
component is the one that negatively
affected the project and caused a bad
management of the contract, for
77
example, which forced an increase of works.
The possibility of possible analyses to be
performed with the proposed data set is
proportional to the imaginative capacity
of the analyst, so that new analyses can
be incorporated as they occur to an
official. Some examples are given below:
Tabla Nº 4
Source: Prepared by the author
With the implementation of the system,
the CGR would have a fundamental tool
to establish a policy of knowledge of the
environment of public works investment
projects, which would make it possible to determine a framework of normal
behavior that will serve as a reference in
the detection of suspicious
circumstances of fraud.
Proposed data analysis
Indicator Analysis Required data Fraud warning signal
Bidding
efficiency index
Review whether the
public bidding system
is really efficient for the
interests of the State,
optimize savings in
public investment.
• Amount available for
procurement
• Amount awarded
• Amount of other bids
• Final contract amount
• Unjustified splitting of projects
• The winning bid is too high or
too low compared to the
amount available.
Control of
execution
deadlines
Through the study of
compliance with
contract deadlines and
their modifications,
analyze the
management of the
IFO and the company.
• Construction start date
• Contract term
• Completion date
• Time extensions
• Unjustified, undocumented or
frequent contract changes
Control of public
investment
Analysis of the
difference between the
initial and final value of
the contract.
Undervalued bids
awarded are
compensated by
means of work
increases.
• Companies
• Amount awarded
• Final contract amount
• Amount of modifications
• Unjustified, undocumented or
frequent contract changes
• Unexplained favorable
treatment
Conflicts of
interest
Undue kinship
relationships
• Registro de empresas
• Profesional a cargo de las
obras
• Inspector fiscal
• Comisión de evaluación
• Autoridad vigente del
Servicio
• Comisión de recepción de
obras
• Favorable treatment without
explanation
• Close social relationship
between a civil servant and
the contractor
• Increase in the public official’s
wealth

Fiscalizando Journal Nª 26 / Winners of 2019 CTPBG Contest – 1st place 78
In view of the above, once a database is
available to manage the information
collected from the resolutions subject to
the legal control process (and the
projects subject to replacement control),
it will be possible to obtain an overview
of the results of the management of the
construction companies and public
utilities, based on the information
obtained from the analysis of each
project in which they are involved.
Then, with the information gathered and
its subsequent analysis by means of a
management performance evaluation
model, the following indicators are proposed:
The indicators will be obtained for all
public services and companies that have
projects that are in some way under the
CGR’s scrutiny, either through the
review of their resolutions in the legal
control process or through replacement
controls, where a record of the projects
will be kept and the required data will be
collected to feed the model. Based on
the results obtained by the services or
companies, it will be possible to focus in
a better way the entities subject to the control of this Control Organism.
The proposed model is expected to
predict the results of the management of
a contract or project, allowing the
generation of early warnings to prevent
any situation that could harm the quality
of the works or the misuse of public resources.
EVALUATION OF THE COMPLIANCE
WITH THE PERFORMANCE OF ITS FUNCTIONS
Application of Machine Learning tools
1.2
SERVICE 1 = = ∑(P1+P2+P3…..+P_n)
/n; where P represents the contract
management evaluation obtained by the
service for a particular project and n is
the number of projects analyzed. nEVALUATION OF COMPLIANCE WITH THE CONTRACT
COMPANY 1 = ∑(P1+P2+P3…..+P_n )/n;
where P represents the company’s
assessment of compliance with the
contract on a particular project and n is
the number of projects analyzed.

Fiscalizando Journal Nª 26 / Winners of 2019 CTPBG Contest – 1st place79
The prediction obtained from the model
will correspond to the probability that
the project will comply with the contract,
i.e., meet the technical specifications,
within the established deadline, without
cost overruns or excessive increases in
works, which could indicate irregular
acts. This prediction will make it possible
to classify the projects under execution
and to keep them in custody until the
contract has to be finally settled.
Then, once the contract settlement is
carried out, it is possible to have the real
data of the project, with which the
effectiveness of the model should be
measured by means of the most
appropriate metrics for the case. Once
the effectiveness of the model has been
obtained, it should be adjusted, so that
its predictions will be accurate each time.
1.3 Metrics
Before continuing, it is necessary to establish what is meant by “good” or
“bad” contract management. That is to
say, from where do we obtain the “p”
values of each project and what does
this number mean. For this, it is
necessary to understand that a project
has a development cycle from the
moment the idea of doing something is born until what is sought is obtained.
In this case we will seek to measure the
effectiveness of the service in the
generation and estimation of project
costs versus the final result obtained.
We will consider the data of an “original
project” versus the data obtained from
the “real or final project” obtained at the
end of the contract. From this data, we
will obtain management indicators that
will allow us to evaluate the
management of the service or the
construction company, depending on
how much the value obtained is “further
away” or “closer” to the value of the original project.
Indicator Description Formula
Service efficiency in project
cost estimation
Economic management of
the contract
Value equal to 1, optimal
� � � � � �� � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �
Value greater than 1,
project underestimated by
the service or coordinated
overestimation of
companies.
Value less than 1, project
overestimated by the
service
Service efficiency in project
cost estimation
Economic management of
the contract
Value equal to 1, optimal
� � � � �� � � � � �
� � � � � � � Value greater than 1,
project with cost overruns
Value less than 1, project
with decreases
Service efficiency in project
cost estimation
Value equal to 1, optimal
� � �� � � � � � � �
� � � � � � � �
Value greater than 1,
project underestimated by
service
Value less than 1, project
over-estimated by the
service

Fiscalizando Journal Nª 26 / Winners of 2019 CTPBG Contest – 1st place 80
The next step is to determine the
decision thresholds for the indicators
defined above. It should be noted that a
study must be done to reach a
consensus as to what values will be
considered “high” or “low” for a project.
For example, what value for extraordinary works is acceptable for a
project, or what value is not acceptable
for delay in project delivery? It is
recommended that ranges of criteria be
established, which should be defined
according to the factors or weightings that affect each project.
1.4 Supervised learning
As described above, in order to obtain
the “P” factors that evaluate the
management of public services and
construction companies, it is necessary
to define the criteria that will determine
the “P” value of each project. In this
way, a series of factors will have to be
selected that can be obtained directly
from the data or indirectly through the creation of indicators.
From the Machine Learning perspective,
the proposal made has the option of
obtaining all the required data through
the review of the resolutions subject to
the legal control process or in those
cases in which the projects will be
monitored by means of the proposed replacement control. On the other hand, it is worth
mentioning that this CGR has the
antecedents of old projects from which
the data required by the model can be
obtained. That is to say, we have training
data for the model, where we already
know the results of the management of
each project; however, it has not been
possible to consolidate this information
to evaluate the performance of the
construction companies and public services.
By entering the information of old
projects, the model would be able to
read them as values in accordance with
the established criteria, which can
generate interesting analyses of the management of public works projects.
Management of the
contract deadline
Good Management 0,8 a 1 The offered deadline
is met
Op
�mal 1 The offered deadline
is met
Poor Management 1 a 1,5
Exceeding of the
offered deadline –
normal case
Alert 1,5 a 2
The offered deadline
is exceeded by more
than 50%.

Question Description/Analysis Data/indicator
Which public service has the
highest rate of cost overruns in its
projects?
• Compare between different
public services within the same
region.
• Compare the performance of
different regional directorates of
the same service.
• Economic management of the
contract
• Efficiency of the service in the
estimation of work quantities
(cost overruns).
Which construction company has
the highest rate of cost overruns
on its projects?
• There is a relationship between
that company and a particular
service.

Fiscalizando Journal Nª 26 / Winners of 2019 CTPBG Contest – 1st place 81
The number of possible analyses is
unknown and depends on the
capabilities of the professionals who will
perform this function. It is necessary to
play with the data to obtain information.
However, what is expected of the model
is that it will make predictions of the
management of a service and a
construction company with respect to
the execution of a project. Then, based
on data from old projects, the model could classify any new project entered
into the database in terms of the risk
that exists in terms of compliance with
the contract. Then, with this
classification it would be possible to
determine the planning of public works
audits, anticipating possible damages
caused by mismanagement in the use of
public resources, in addition to
increasing the probability of obtaining
relevant results in the reports made by the CGR.
However, it should be considered that
the projects that the model has
predicted as risky, in which an action is
determined by the CGR, either an IOP or
audit, when this action is taken, the
expected result will be altered, which
should not be interpreted as a failure of
the model, but as an improvement due
to the intervention of the CGR.
Conclusions
The system for control and prevention of
fraud in public works contracts
-CENTINELA- is a simple and viable
option that can be implemented to, in a
first stage, capture data from public
investment projects and have a
complete view of the factors and
variables that may affect their progress.
In the second stage, once enough
projects have been completed and
evaluated, it will be possible to
implement a machine learning technique
to detect fraud.
It should be noted that for fraud
detection, it is necessary to recognize
the different schemes or mechanisms used to circumvent the actions of the
audits. For this, it is necessary to stop
searching according to the current
standards that are already well known
by fraudsters. It is necessary to
implement platforms that record
essential data of the works that allow us
to establish baselines for the
management of contracts by public services and construction companies.
This last maxim will allow us in the
future to go deeper into the efficiency of
public services in the spending of their
projects in order to avoid waste. It will
be possible to determine cost overruns,
budget overruns, the efficiency of public
bidding or the abuse of contract
modifications to increase the final value
of the contract, all this based on the
knowledge acquired from all the projects
registered by the Auditing Institution,
generating, through a data analysis
model, the warning signals that warn us
of the occurrence of some type of fraud scheme.
In general, the proposed model would
allow to perform an administrative
Confusion Matrix Project is poorly evaluated Project presents acceptable
management
Prediction of risky project Ok -1
Prediction of non-risky project -100 Ok

Fiscalizando Journal Nª 26 / Winners of 2019 CTPBG Contest – 1st place 82
control of a large number of projects,
which may be those subject to legal
control process and all those that are
exempted due to the new provisions of
resolutions 7 and 8, of 2019, of the
Office of the Comptroller General, can be
registered as a replacement control so as not to lose the information on these.
Bibliography
Cavada, Herrera J. (2017). Economic
crimes: problems and protests.
Parliamentary technical advisory,
Library of the National Congress of
Chile. Retrieved from
https://www.bcn.cl/asesoriasparlamentarias/
Cossío, A. (May 10, 2018). Bots,
machine learning, cognitive services:
reality and perspectives of artificial
intelligence in Spain, 2018. Retrieved
from PwC.es:
https://www.pwc.es/es/publicaciones.html
Faura Llimós, D. (2016). The role of
the external auditor in fraud
detection. Journal of Accounting and
Management (23), 97-110. Retrieved
from;
https://accid.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/El_papel_del_auditor_
Fortunato, J., Santos, N., & Faroni, W.
(2017). Diamante da fraude: um
estudo descritivo nos relatórios de
demandas externas do Ministério da
Transparência e Controladoria Geral
da União. VIII International Congress
of Government, Administration and
Politics.
Galvis-Castañeda, I., & Santos-Mera
J. (2017). Geometry of fraud.
Accounting Notebooks, 17(45),
74-85. Retrieved from
http://www.scielo.org.co/pdf/cuco/v18n45/0123-1472-cuco-18-45-00074.pdf González-Muñiz, A. (2018).
Application of artificial intelligence
techniques based on deep learning
(deep learning) to the analysis and
improvement of the efficiency of
industrial processes. Master’s thesis,
University of Oviedo. Retrieved from
https://www.researchgate.net/public
ation/334328255_Aplicaciones_de_t
ecnicas_de_inteligencia_artifical_bas
adas_en_aprendizaje_profundo_dee
p_learning_al_analisis_y_mejora_de_la_eficiencia_de_procesos_industriales
La Tercera. (November 1, 2002). New
documents reveal new contracts in
the MOP-GATE scandal. La Tercera.
Retrieved from
http://agv.cl/cidhchilefigueroa/pe03s
czaranski.pdf
Sunqu (2016). Introduction to
machine learning. Retrieved from
https://sunqu.net/machine-learningsectores-beneficio/
Zayas Mariscal, L. (2016). Warning
signs of fraud in firms. Accounting
and Management Journals (23),
61-68. Retrieved from
https://accid.org/wp-content/upload
s/2018/11/Senales_de_alerta_para_l
a_deteccion_de_fraude_en_las_empresas
Extended version of this article:
https://www.olacefs.com/pri-
mer-premio- jonathan-nabor-lo-
pez-espinoza- efs-chile/

83
Fiscalizando Journal Nª 26 / Winners of 2019 CTPBG Contest – 3rd place
FINANCIAL AUDIT CHALLENGES: USE OF TECHNOLOGY AND
DATA ANALYSIS TO DETECT FRAUD RISKS IN FINANCIAL REPORTING
Authors:
Milagro Barboza Rojas
Jeizel Barrantes Fernández
Estefany Campos Granados Marilyn Chacón Chavarría Karen Garro Vargas
Tatiana Méndez Flores
Alex Fabián Ramírez Alpízar SAI Costa Rica 1
1 Milagro Barboza Rojas, Jeizel Barrantes Fernández, Estefany Campos Granados, Marilyn Chacón Chavarría,
Karen Garro Vargas, Tatiana Méndez Flores, Certified Public Accountants, and Alex Fabián Ramírez Alpízar, Com-
puter Engineer, auditors of the Office of the Comptroller General of the Republic of Costa Rica with experience
in the execution of Financial Audits and Information Technology Audits, respectively.
Abstract: This article is about the role
that auditors of Supreme Audit
Institutions (SAIs) have played in the
execution of financial audits and how,
given the new challenges in the
performance of their functions due to the
large volume of transactions and the
limited resources for their verification,
the use of new technologies is
incorporated to detect fraud risks in the
financial information of public sector
institutions. By virtue of the above, a
series of procedures are proposed that
SAIs can apply in this type of audits to
provide greater coverage in obtaining
and reviewing evidence in the audit
process to improve the quality of
financial information for the
decision-making process, as well as to
promote transparency and
accountability in the public sector.
Key words: reasonableness, risk,
fraud, detection, challenge, volume,
technology, transparency. misstatement, due to fraud or error in
the recording and presentation of
financial information of public
institutions, which is an input to issue an
opinion on the reasonableness of the
figures contained in the financial statements of the audited entities.
The current situation poses challenges
for the performance of this type of
audits, given that the information
subject to examination is collected,
processed and distributed in large
volumes by means of information
systems. Faced with such challenges and
limited resources, SAIs are faced with
the need to implement audit processes
with an innovative and agile tendency,
through the use of accessible, easy and
useful tools in their reviews that
promote completeness in an efficient
w a y.
This trend does not exclusively involve
the acquisition of expensive tools, but
begins with the use of general-purpose
software, such as spreadsheets, and
Conducting the Research
The work of the SAIs, as regards the
execution of financial audits, has
focused on the application of audit
procedures to specific samples to
identify and assess the risks of material

84
Fiscalizando Journal Nª 26 / Winners of 2019 CTPBG Contest – 3rd place
large volumes of data, and technologies
that allow the auditor to configure
environments for test execution based
on libraries and routines available or
programmable by the individual, such as
R and Python. These also make it
possible to apply more efficient audit
procedures with greater coverage in
reviewing and obtaining evidence on the
design, implementation and operating
effectiveness of transaction controls to
identify and assess risk indicators of
fraud or fraudulent activities.
With a higher degree of specialization,
there are machine learning algorithms,
which can detect patterns and provide the auditor with indications of possible
fraudulent behavior. In any case, for any
of the techniques used to work, the
information they work with must be of
high quality; otherwise, they will enter,
process and obtain erroneous data or
data of little use, making it impossible to
give a reasonable opinion on the
financial statements or to detect fraud.
Fraud detection oriented audit
procedures can be supported by the
understanding of transactional cycles,
financial analysis and the application of
automated detection procedures, as shown in the following image.
Understanding the transactional cycle
allows the auditor to know the cycle of
each transaction from the beginning to
the end, and to identify the manual and
automated controls that are part of the
processing of such transactions, in order
to define the timing and extent of the audit procedures. In this sense, we
suggest aspects that can be
contemplated as part of the procedures
to identify fraud risks associated with
the revenue, purchase and payroll
cycles, as appropriate.
Image N° 1: Detection of financial fraud
Source: Prepared by the author

85
Analysis of financial reports
SAIs may carry out the following
procedures to identify risks associated
with fraud or atypical data in the financial statements of the audited entities:
Fiscalizando Journal Nª 26 / Winners of 2019 CTPBG Contest – 3rd place
Horizontal and vertical analysis:
these types of analysis are not

86
Fiscalizando Journal Nª 26 / Winners of 2019 CTPBG Contest – 3rd place
designed to identify fraud; however,
they allow the identification of more
important accounting accounts or
budget items or those with particular
characteristics that require special attention.
Payment or expense reports: identify
unrecorded expenses or liabilities in a
period, verify payment for goods or
services received.
Trend analysis: to observe the
behavior of the different items of the
Financial Statements, in order to
identify abrupt or particular changes
that have occurred by error or intention.
Journal entry reports: identify
unusual transactions that could result
in indications of fraud (timing of
entries, unusual entries, segregation
of duties, unusual figures, manual adjustments).
Automated procedures to detect financial fraud
For the detection of fraud risk in the
relevant assertions of the Financial
Statements, the following procedures
can be applied through the incorporation
of technology (spreadsheets or data
analysis software):
Validation of the integrity of the
financial information provided by the
entity: it is possible to validate the
integrity of the amounts, existence of
duplicate records, sequence of the
numbering of documents supporting
the transactions, existence of empty fields in the information. External and internal validation of the
information provided by the entity:
the information obtained through
internal or external confirmations is
cross-checked.
Perform cut-off tests at the end of the
period: that the recording of
transactions and events has been
made in the corresponding fiscal year
in order to identify possible
unrecorded liabilities, recalculations
of inventory inventories.
Despite the incorporation of new
technologies to identify risks of fraud or
fraudulent activities, the auditor should
not omit the application of basic
procedures to verify general controls
related to information technology that contemplate the following points:
Existence of formalized and duly
disclosed policies that regulate
physical and logical access to
programs and data.
Assignment of access permissions,
modification and transfer of
information according to the
positions and functions of the
employees.
Methodology for the creation,
assignment and revocation of permits.
Existence of backup and incident
response procedures. inventory stock recalculations.
Likewise, regardless of the technology
used, the role of the auditor becomes

Fiscalizando Journal Nª 26 / Winners of 2019 CTPBG Contest – 3rd place 87
relevant when determining whether a
situation is fraudulent or not, since it is
the auditor who finally determines
whether to further review each result
and whether to investigate the causes
of the situations identified, based on the
information provided by the systems
and by exogenous agents that provide a context for each situation.
Conclusions
The financial audit is a comprehensive
process that allows us, through its
procedures, to generate an opinion on
the reasonableness of financial
information, which is important for
decision making and accountability. In
addition, from this type of audits, SAIs
obtain inputs for their operational
planning and from the results obtained
within the review and understanding of
internal control, determination of risks
(including fraud), focus ex-post audits
with other objectives (performance or compliance).
The challenge for SAIs in financial
audits is to review a large amount of
information in the shortest amount of
time possible and with limited human
resources. The main advantage of using
technology to detect financial fraud lies
in the possibility of processing large
volumes of data in a short time, which
allows to dedicate efforts to evidence
gathering and verification of possible
causes and effects of identified unusual situations.
Technology also allows the
implementation of preventive controls,
as well as more timely detective
controls, which can potentially reduce
the impact on the finances of institutions and, therefore, on the public
purse. This anticipation capacity
eventually allows the establishment of
continuous monitoring models, i.e., the
implementation of automatic controls
and procedures that issue alerts as close as possible to real time.
Bibliografía
Legislative Assembly, (2004). Law
No. 8422, Law against Corruption
and Illicit Enrichment in the Public
Service. No. Gaceta 212 of October
24, 2004. Retrieved from
http://www.pgrweb.go.cr/scij/Busq
ueda/Normativa/Normas/nrm_norm
a.aspx?param1=NRM&nValor1=1&n
Valor2=53738&nValor3=0&strTipM=FN
Association of Certified Fraud
Examiners – ACFE. (2018). Report to
the nations. 2018 global study on
occupational fraud and abuse.
Retrieved from
https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.co
m/acfepublic/2018-report-to-the-nations.pdf
Association of Certified Fraud
Examiners – ACFE. (2016). Report to
the nations. 2016 on occupational
fraud and abuse. Global fraud study
2016. Retrieved from
http://acfe-mexico.com.mx/archivo
s/Reporte_Naciones_2016_esp.pdf
Bravo, J. (2004). Financial Fraud
Forensic Audit Guide. San José,
Costa Rica: Editorial Juricentro.
Castellanos et al. (2011). Trend
analysis: from information to
innovation. Bogotá D.C., Colombia.
Retrieved from http://bdigital.unal.edu.co/3564/1/
ANALISIS_DE_TENDENCIAS_MAYO _7.pdf

Fiscalizando Journal Nª 26 / Winners of 2019 CTPBG Contest – 3rd place 88
National Council of Supervision of the
Financial System. (2016). Acuerdo
SUGEF 18-16, Reglamento sobre
gestión del riesgo operativo, version
four. Diario oficial La Gaceta N° 133.
Retrieved from
https://www.imprentanacional.go.cr/pu
b/2016/07/29/ALCA133_29_07_2016.pdf
Office of the Comptroller General of the
Republic (2016). National survey on
corruption prevention 2017. Retrieved from
https://cgrfiles.cgr.go.cr/publico/docsweb/enpc/index.html
Office of the Comptroller General of the
Republic (2016). Annual report 2016.
Retrieved from
https://cgrfiles.cgr.go.cr/publico/docsweb/documentos/publicaciones-cgr/mem
oria-anual/2016/memoria-anual-2016.pdf
Estupiñán, R. (2002). Internal control
and fraud based on transactional cycles.
Bogotá D.C., Colombia: ECOE Ediciones.
International Federation of
Accountants. (2011). Transition to the
accrual basis of accounting: Guidelines
for public sector entities. Retrieved from
https://incp.org.co/Site/2011/info/arch
ivos/602.pdf
Flemin, S. (2018). Meta-Model of fraud.
Two triangles combine for better fraud
case comprehension. Fraud magazine, 33,24-31.
Prieto, H. (2010). Financial Analysis.
Bogotá D.C. Colombia: Fundación para
la Educación Superior San Mateo.
Retrieved from
https://www.sanmateo.edu.co/docume
ntos/publicacion-analisis-financiero.pdf
Global Audit and Internal Control
Knowledge Network – AUDITOOL. (26
September 2017.) How to Audit Journal
Entries. [Blog post]. Retrieved from
https://www.auditool.org/blog/auditori
a-externa/5558-como-auditar-los-asientos-de-diario Global Audit and Internal Control
Knowledge Network – AUDITOOL. (06
July 2015). Financial Statement Fraud
and ISA 240 [Blog post]. Retrieved from
http://blogs.portafolio.co/buenas-pract
icas-de-auditoria-y-control-interno-en-l
as-organizaciones/el-fraude-en-los-est
ados-financieros-y-la-nia-240/
Global Knowledge Network in Auditing
and Internal Control – AUDITOOL. (04
October 2012). Benford’s Law as an
audit procedure. [Blog entry]. Retrieved from
https://www.auditool.org/blog/auditori
a-externa/1378-la-ley-de-benford-com
o-procedimiento-de-auditoria
Global Knowledge Network in Auditing
and Internal Control – AUDITOOL. (09
January 2018). Benford’s law and fraud
detection. [Blog post]. Retrieved from
https://www.auditool.org/blog/auditori
a-interna/5785-la-ley-de-benford-y-lad
eteccion-de-fraudes
Global Audit and Internal Control
Knowledge Network – AUDITOOL. (10
January 2019). Analytical methods in
fraud detection. [Blog post]. Retrieved from
https://www.auditool.org/blog/fraude/
6345-metodos-analiticos-en-la-detecci
on-del-fraude
Blogthinkbig.com (10 January 2014).
Benford’s Law: how a mathematical law
uncovers financial fraud. [Blog post].
Retrieved from

La Ley de Benford: cómo una ley matemática descubre fraudes financieros

Wild et al. (2007). Financial Statement
Analysis. Mexico City: Mc Graw Hill.
Retrieved from http://fullseguridad.net/wp-content/upl
oads/2016/11/An%C3%A1lisis-de-esta
dos-financieros-9na-Edici%C3%B3n-Jo
hn-J.-Wild.pdf
Extended version of this article:
https://www.olacefs.com/tercer-pre-
mio-karen-garro-vargas-efs-costa-rica/

[email protected]: @OLACEFS_oficialFacebook: @olacefsInstagram: @olacefs LinkedIn: OLACEFS
YouTube: /OLACEFScom Lima, Perú