Networks of public accounts committees exist on most continents to help such committees learn from one another and share best practices. These networks vary in their structure, membership, and objectives. However, they generally aim to strengthen financial oversight of governments by facilitating information sharing among parliamentary bodies responsible for auditing public spending. Successful networks tend to have a defined membership and purpose, a degree of formality in their operations, committed participation from members, and sustained leadership over time. They also allow for self-organization among participating committees.

1. Networks of Public Accounts
Committees:
A Global Perspective
Mitchell O’Brien
Governance Specialist
Team Lead – Parliamentary Strengthening Program
World Bank

2. Networks of Public Accounts
Committees
o Public Accounts Committees (PACs) are the primary
parliamentary mechanism for providing financial scrutiny of
the budget.
o No two PACs are the same. In order to learn from each other
and identify good practice, communities of PACs have sought
to establish and foster parliamentary networks.
o These networks touch most continents and include PACs from
different parliamentary traditions – the newest being NAPAC
o Each network is different and operates to achieve different
purposes. However, each network can learn from the
experience and practice of their fellow networks.

3. What is a Parliamentary Network?
o Parliamentary Network = Formal associations of parliamentary institutions
characterized by a set of relationships, personal interactions, and
connections among participants.
o There is an emphasis on information flow and helpful linkages.
o A Parliamentary Network is the term used in the parliamentary community to
describe what, in other fields, are called Communities of Practice (CoP) or
learning networks.
 Parliament is a practice, not a science
o Learning networks made up of a community of practitioners are able to
collect both tacit (informal) and explicit (formal) knowledge from individual
experts from diverse sources and from, potentially, remote locations, in order
to benefit the learning community.
 NAPAC is a Community of Practitioners
o The parliamentary community has embraced this approach as it facilitates
PACs from multiple jurisdictions learning from each other.

4. Outline
1. Existing PAC Learning Networks
2. Recurring qualities/ Design
Features of Successful Learning
Networks
3. Examples of capacity building
techniques used by other PAC
Networks
4. Discussion

5. Existing PAC Learning
Networks

6. Existing PAC learning networks
CCPAC 1981
ACPAC 1989
APAC 1997
SADCOPAC 2003
EAAPAC 2004
WAAPAC 2009
ARAPAC 2011
Nordic PAC Network 2012
Pacific PAC Network (Nascent) 2013
AFROPAC 2013
There are also Communities of Practice that dovetail with
the work of the formal networks - LOCoP

7. Canadian Council of Public
Accounts Committees (CCPAC)
o CCPAC was formally established in 1981 and
managed a three-member board of directors.
o The CCPAC meets annually to discuss issues of
concern to public accounts committees and
holds a conference every two years or as
requested by members of the council.
o Membership of CCPAC is open to all public
accounts committees in Canada and currently
consists of 14 territories

8. CCPAC Membership
House of Commons Standing Committee on Public Accounts
- Alberta: Standing Committee on Public Accounts
- British Columbia: Select Standing Committee on Public Accounts
- Manitoba: Standing Committee on Public Accounts
-New Brunswick: Standing Committee on Public Accounts
- Newfoundland and Labrador: Standing Committee on Public Accounts
- Northwest Territories : Standing Committee on Government Operations
- Nova Scotia: Standing Committee on Public Accounts
- Nunavut: Standing Committee on Oversight of Government Operations and
Public Accounts
- Ontario: Standing Committee on Public Accounts
- Prince Edward Island : Standing Committee on Public Accounts
- Quebec: Committee on Public Administration
- Saskatchewan: Standing Committee on Public Accounts
- Yukon: Standing Committee on Public Accounts

9. Australasian Council of Public
Accounts Committee (ACPAC)
o ACPAC was formed in 1989 to facilitate the
exchange of information and opinions
relating to PACs and discuss matters of
mutual concern.
o Every two years a jurisdiction is appointed
as the Secretariat and takes charge of all
operational activities of ACPAC. The PAC of
the jurisdiction and its Secretariat effectively
becomes the ACPAC Secretariat.

10. ACPAC Membership
Parliament of Australia: Joint Committee of Public Accounts
and Audit
Australian Capital Territory: Public Accounts Committee
New South Wales: Public Accounts Committee
Northern Territory: Public Accounts Committee
Queensland
Public Accounts and Public Works Committee
Tasmania: Public Accounts Committee
Victoria: Public Accounts and Estimates Committee
Western Australia: Public Accounts Committee
New Zealand: Public Accounts Committee

11. Association of Public Accounts
Committees (APAC) – South Africa
o APAC was established in 1997 after initial discussions to
consolidate, harmonize and find best-practice models of
oversight and accountability within the PAC fraternity in
South Africa
o It was clear to the Standing Committee on Public Accounts
(SCOPA) and the 9 provincial PACs that they would be able to
carry out their responsibilities more efficiently if they joined
forces through forming an association
o APAC delivers its programs using a transitional Secretariat
that rotates between its various jurisdictions
o APAC seeks to improve the quality and performance of the
PACs in South Africa and to improve the capacity of individual
members of the PACs to function more effectively

12. APAC Membership
SCOPA
Eastern Cape
Free State
Gauteng
KwaZulu-Natal
Limpopo
Mpumalanga
North West
Northern Cape
Western Cape

13. Southern African Development
Community Organization of Public
Accounts Committees (SADCOPAC)
o In May 2002, at an exploratory meeting
in Kimberly, South Africa, members of
PACs from various African nations
resolved to form SADCOPAC
o SADCOPAC was officially launched in
October 2003 in Johannesburg, South
Africa
o The SADCOPAC Secretariat is hosted by
the National Audit Office in Tanzania

14. SADCOPAC Membership
Angola
Botswana
Lesotho
Malawi
Mozambique
Namibia
Seychelles
South Africa
Swaziland
Tanzania
Zambia
Zimbabwe

15. East African Association of Public
Accounts Committees (EAAPAC)
o In February 2004, the Public Audit Committees and Auditors
General from six national and one regional Parliament from
Eastern Africa met in Mombasa to discuss best practices for
PACs
o After three days of deliberation, the PACs present resolved to
form a regional organization of PACs to enhance information
sharing, conduct training, exchange ideas on best practices
and strengthen the oversight voices of parliaments in the
region
o It was agreed that the EAAPAC would have a leadership
structure comprising an Executive Committee, formed by the
Chairs of the member PACs and a Secretariat to be based in
the Kenya Parliament

16. EAAPAC Membership
Uganda
South Sudan
Kenya
Tanzania
Rwanda
Burundi
Ethiopia

17. West African Association of Public
Accounts Committees (WAAPAC)
o The West Africa Association of Public Accounts Committees
(WAAPAC) was formed in February 2009 as a voluntary
organization aimed at promoting the effectiveness of PACs in
the ECOWAS states
o The WAAPAC Secretariat is embedded within Civil Society
o It was born out of the need for networking with the view of
sharing and achieving best practices and where appropriate,
harmonizing and standardizing the work of the PACs in the
West African sub-region
o In 2011 WAAPAC extended an invitation to Francophone
Finance Committees to join WAAPAC so that WAAPAC
membership could reflect all countries in ECOWAS
o The Nigerian National Assembly is a foundation member

18. WAAPAC Membership
Benin
Burkina Faso
The Gambia
Niger
Ghana
Liberia
Mali
Nigeria
Senegal
Sierra Leone
Togo

19. Asian Regional Association of Public
Accounts Committees (ARAPAC)
o ARAPAC membership is open to legislators who
are members of national Asian PACs or of similar
legislative committees scrutinizing public spending
and post expenditure accounts
o The Secretariat is established on a rolling basis,
changing with each elected host parliament for a
two year term
o ARAPAC membership is open to all PACs (or
equivalent) of countries whose SAI is a member of
the Asian Society of Supreme Audit Institutions
(ASOSAI)

20. ARAPAC Membership
Afghanistan
Bangladesh
Bhutan
Indonesia
Maldives
Sri Lanka
Thailand
East Timor
Vietnam
Pakistan

21. Nordic Public Accounts
Committee Forum
o Formed as an outcome of Nordic
PACs seeing how effective African
sub-regional network were in
enhancing capacity
o Membership includes Finland,
Denmark, Sweden, Norway and
Greenland

22. Pacific Network of Public
Accounts Committees
o Pacific PAC Chairs and Auditors-General
convened in Fiji in 2013
o Acknowledging the benefits of the network
learning approach to capacity strengthening
for geographically disbursed institutions,
they decided to form a knowledge network
for Pacific PACs
o Membership includes Tonga, Somoa, Cook
Island, Nuie, Nauru, Tuvalu, Kiribati,
Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, PNG

23. AFROPAC
o Recently inaugurated Pan-African
PAC association open to all PACs in
Africa
o Secretariat to be hosted by the
Kenyan Parliament

24. Commonalities between
Networks
Membership: Membership is defined by
Committee - Committee consists of
Members and the Secretariat
Broad Definition of PAC: Each Network
embraces various forms of Parliamentary
Audit Committees. These include: National,
Sub-National, or Audit Committees specific
to a country’s parliamentary traditions

25. Difference between Networks
The strength of the PAC network often
reflects the strength of the secretariat.
PAC networks use 4 different secretariat
models:
(i) Hosted by Parliament (NAPAC)
(ii) Hosted by a CSO
(iii) Hosted by an SAI
(iv) Floating

26. Recurring Qualities/ Design
Features of Successful
Learning Networks

27. Common Design Features
There are recurring qualities/ design features that can be grouped
around the following attributes:
 Size (number of members)
 Purpose or objective (achievement of a mutual goal)
 Degree of formality (informal ↔ formal)
 Level of members’ commitment
 Leadership (the degree of sustained leadership by members,
for instance if the CoP is based on distributed leadership in
which multiple core members serve as leaders)
 Self-organizing vs. sponsored

28. Moving from Inception to
Implementation
o The way these attributes are either incorporated as
purposeful design elements, or nurtured as organic/
emerging characteristics, has an impact on the success and
sustainability of a network
o Applying the above design framework can assist founding
members of the community develop a clear vision as to what
kind of learning network should be shaped, in order to
effectively support the organizational and development goals
of the community members
o In principle, NAPAC has agreed on its constitution and it will
be inaugurated tomorrow.
o Attention now moves from inception to considering how to
bring the vision to life.
What does NAPAC do now?
 How does NAPAC do it?

29. Examples of Capacity
Building techniques used
by other PAC Networks

30. Capacity Building Techniques-A
 Institutional and organizational support to network secretariats to assist them
in stewarding learning networks and communities
Examples:
o Network working groups focused on specific topics, or network
organizational issues such as communication strategies/ operational
elements (ARAPAC)
o TA to network Secretariat to enhance know-how on using social
learning methods in Network activities
 South-South & South-North Exchange - Learning between networks
Examples:
o NAPAC and other PAC networks
o NAPAC and other national, regional, or global networks such as
AFROSAI
 Knowledge exchange activities within the network guided through a
membership mapping
Examples:
o Bringing together NAPAC champions and PACs that have identified a
similar capacity constraint

31. Capacity Building Techniques - B
 Peer exchange/assist
Examples:
o EAAPAC Pilot Peer Assist for South Sudan
o SADCOPAC Clerk Attachment process
 Structured learning around technical areas in order to enhance operational
effectiveness
Examples:
o Targeted training for Clerks at the end of larger network gatherings
 Integrating networking and community strengthening elements as part of
traditional knowledge exchange and structured learning activities
Examples:
o Surfacing common topics of interest/ concern during knowledge
exchange activities; and helping to design community learning
responses to build and share experience (Good practice development
process)

32. Capacity Building Techniques - C
 Action-orientated planning/ Value creation
Examples:
o Convening PAC Members, Committee Clerks
and other parliamentary institutions, to
collaboratively develop approaches to
performance challenges
 Participatory knowledge capture techniques
Examples:
o Using Wikispaces during knowledge exchange
and structured training activities, to create a
shared memory and understanding as to
technical content and experience shared.

33. Discussion?