Being auditor is about serving people’

013-12-20 19:32

‘Being auditor is about serving people’

Ko Dong-hwan
Shim Ho, director general at the Board of Audit and Inspection, firmly believes that auditors are to serve the nation and the people by conducting fair and objective audits.That’s why he has made efforts to study and set up auditing theories to help improve efficiency in field operations based on his 24-year career as a state auditor.
His efforts have now come to fruits when he recently published a book to help upgrade Korea’s auditing methods in a bid to make them comply with global standards.
The book titled “Internal Audit & Organizational Capability,” features different theories in the fields of auditing and public administration.
“Through my career, I’ve witnessed a fast-changing scope of audit alongside the incessantly evolving and expanding world,” Shim said.
He started to write the book in 2009 to help not just incumbent auditors but also aspirants and researchers.
“Korea’s still-developing auditing environment may need it. And the world has paid growing attention to our profession and our auditing knowhow,” he said.
“There’re 66,000 agencies across Korea, but, with manpower shortage, only 1.7 percent of them are being audited,” said Shim. “Although there’re presently 5,000 internal auditors, their lack of independent power and capability often failed to perform as a .’”
He details in his book such concepts as “analytic hierarchy process,” evaluating procedures in terms of “governance,” “internal control” and “risk management.”
“To improve Korea’s auditing environments, internal auditors’ independent authority, objectivity and capability must be further strengthened and the link between the central audit board and internal auditing agencies must be more active,” he continued.
Shim worked for the government of British Columbia in Canada for 18 months since 2005, learning the advanced auditing system. He describes this experience as the motive behind writing his recent book.
“During that time, I took part in auditing the country’s preparation in the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics. When I saw figure skating queen Kim Yu-na winning the gold medal, I was delighted because I thought I engaged in the event.”
Shim studied civil engineering at Hanyang University in 1982, and became a public servant in May 1986.
But as he transferred to the Board of Audit and Inspection in December 1989, he realized that his engineering degree alone was not enough for his future career. So, he began studying public administration.
Shim has carried out audits on major government agencies and state enterprises as well as some public projects.
“When I audited the Peace Dam construction project in 1993, our team found a wrong speculation that North Korea had planned to destroy the dam by sending 20 billion tons of reserved water down to Seoul to drown it during the 1988 Seoul Olympic,” said Shim.
In 2003, Shim inspected the Daegu subway arson and called for changing the subway trains’ interior materials to nonflammables so that such tragedy won’t happen again.
This year he conducted an audit on Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power Co. to look at a scandal over substandard parts that were installed in some nuclear power plants with forged quality test documents.
As to those interested in the auditing profession, Shim said, “We welcome all who are poised to stand firm for the sake of the nation and the people. We serve people using ‘audit’ as our means.”