DOF offices get ISO mark

MANILA, Philippines — Two offices under the Department of Finance (DOF) tasked to provide frontline services were recertified by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) for meeting the standards on quality assurance, consistency and efficiency of services.

Finance Undersecretary Antonette Tionko said the DOF’s Revenue Office and Municipal Development Fund Office (MDFO) were recertified with ISO 9001:2105 certificate until April 16, 2020 following an audit on the two offices.

The DOF’s MDFO and Revenue Office secured their first ISO certification in 2017.

“We are recertified up to 2020 for our Revenue Office and MDFO. Both groups had zero non-conformities,” Tionko said.

The ISO is an independent non-government organization which develops standards to ensure the quality, safety, and efficiency of products, services and systems.

According to the DOF, the ISO certificate issued to the two offices covers the “granting of tax exemption on importations, fund administration of municipal development fund and official development assistance.”

Meanwhile, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez urged other DOF offices and attached agencies, such as the Bureau of Internal Revenue and the Bureau of Customs, to strive for ISO certification to ensure that the quality of the services they render pass international standards.

Last year, the DOF became the first Philippine government agency to formally adopt global principles and standards in internal auditing after Dominguez approved the department’s internal audit service (IAS) charter.

It also became the first state agency to comply with international standards on managing and protecting critical and valuable data under its Information Security Management System (ISMS).

The IAS charter institutionalizes a systematic and disciplined approach to independently evaluate performance, internal controls, operations and programs.

It is in line with the Commission on Audit’s adoption of the Philippine Internal Auditing Framework for the Public Sector, which adheres to global professional practices.