2015 United Nations Public Service

Forum

The role of Supreme Audit Institutions

in promoting transparency and

accountability to contribute to the

implementation of the Post-2015

Development Agenda

Silke Steiner,

INTOSAI General Secretariat

1

Introduction

Long-lasting, very successful cooperation

between UN, Member States and INTOSAI

2

Importance of transparency and

accoutability (1)

Why are transparency and accountability so

important for the implementation of the SDGs?

Experiences with regard to the MDGs have

shown that their implementation can only

succeed if accountability and transparency are

in place.

Only if there is accountable and transparent

governance with citizens more involved

monitoring and impact evaluation is more

cost effective

Transparency and accountability:

Role of Supreme Audit

Institutions

Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) can

essentially contribute to an efficient

monitoring and review process with regard to

the resources at hand

how these resources are used,

by whom and

in what way

Shortcomings in the

implementation of the MDGs

However, the implementation of the MDGs

shows that the main weaknesses are

Shortcomings in governance and capacity in

public administration:

Lack of transparency

Lack of accountability

Lack of ownership

Role of SAIs in strengthening

capacities for Sustainable

Development

In order to reduce these weaknesses, INTOSAI and

SAIs around the globe are very much interested and

committed to

contributing to sustainable development and to

delivering their know-how in this regard

Only strong, independent SAIs at the national level

are in the position to strengthen transparency and

accountability and thereby provide the basis for the

implementation of the SDGs

Recognition of the important

contribution of SAIs by the UN

(1)

The important role of SAIs in promoting

transparency and accountability for sustainable

development has already repeatedly been

recognized by the UN:

Call of UN SG Ban Ki-moon for

transparency and accountability in the context

of the Post-2015 Development Agenda and

the necessity of strengthening SAIs (and

oversight functions by legislature) (Synthesis

Report December 2014)

Recognition of the important

contribution of SAIs by the UN

(2)

UN GA Resolutions 66/209 and 69/228:

Acknowledgement of the UN and its Member

States of

the important role of SAIs in promoting the

efficiency, accountability, effectiveness and

transparency of public administration, which is

conducive to the achievement of internationally

agreed development goals

the role of SAIs in fostering governmental

accountability for the use of resources and their

performance in achieving development goals

Obstacles for SAIs to be

removed

Lack of a comprehensive mandate to audit

government performance

• Example: Legal limitation of SAIs to financial audits.

Lack of possibilities to provide a formal audit

opinion on government accounts

• Example: Shortcomings of rules for accounting

Obstacles with regard to disseminating and

publishing audit work

• Example: Not all SAIs are legally in the position to

report publicly on their audit findings

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However: In order to fully unfold their potential

in creating transparency and accountability, SAIs

have to

be legally, financially and organizationally

independent from governments as audited

authorities

have a comprehensive mandate to audit

government performance

be able to disseminate and publish their audit

results

Slide 10

Necessary prerequisites for

SAIs

Necessary measures:

independent

SAIs must be fully independent

in order to make government actions concerning

sustainable development more transparent and

accountable by

• independent and objective information provided to

the executive and to Parliaments and

• by publicly available reports and public discussions

Slide 11

Necessary measures:

capacity building

SAIs need the to have the necessary capacity to be

able to fully unfold their potential with regard to the

SDGs

Special importance of performance audits, which

are revealing information on

efficiency, effectiveness and economy

of all areas of government action

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Performance audits

By performance audits, SAIs can provide reliable

information literally on all areas covered by the

current draft SDGs, e.g.

• poverty and hunger reduction

health care

education

availability of water and sanitation management

energy and infrastructure policy

climate change

good governance

Performance audits:

The example of Ghana

The SAI of Ghana has conducted a number of

performance audits in areas related to

development goals, which included:

• Audits of water provision to rural communities – the

audit resulted in a World Bank intervening and assisting

with the completion of projects that had come to a halt

• Protection of the ecosystem – this audit gave rise to

parliamentary intervention

• Physical infrastructure - led to increase in market

centres and the establishment of health posts and

primary schools

14

Necessary measures:

Improvement of public

accounting systems

It is necessary to improve and harmonize the public

accounting systems and modernize the budgeting

processes, for example by accrual accounting, in

terms of outcome-oriented budgeting in order to

• have a more true and fair view of the state

budgets and in order to

• be able to measure the real outcome of policy

measures / government actions

15

True and fair view of public

finances:

The example of Austria

In Austria true and fair view is a constitutional

principle as of 2013 at the central government

level.

Therefore, Austria’s annual budgets now

contain a cash flow and an operating

statement.

Since its introduction in Austria, accrual

accounting has greatly enhanced the value of

financial statements, including disclosure of

key risks to fiscal sustainability.

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How strengthened SAIs can

contribute to transparency and

accountability

Only with these preconditions in place SAIs can

enhance transparency and accountability by

financial audits: giving insight into the financial

situation of the state

compliance audits: making irregularities visible

performance audits: revealing information on

efficiency, effectiveness and economy of all areas of

government action

How strengthened SAIs can

contribute to sustainable

development

Thus, SAIs substantially contribute to

a monitoring mechanism related to the

implementation of development goals at the

national level and

safeguarding financial sustainability for

development by creating the necessary

transparency and holding responsible parties

accountable

INTOSAI initiatives and

measures

INTOSAI and its member SAIs are well aware of

their important role and the major contributions

they can make to the monitoring and

assessment of the SDGs in each nation as well

as globally

Through their audits, SAIs can contribute

fundamentally to sustainable development by

“building effective, accountable and inclusive

institutions at all levels” (proposed SDG goal 16)

Therefore, a series of activities are already

going on in INTOSAI, such as:

19

23rd

UN/INTOSAI Symposium (1)

20

23rd UN/INTOSAI Symposium, 2 to 4 March 2015, Vienna, Austria

Theme:

UN Post-2015 Development Agenda: The Role of SAIs and Means of Implementation for Sustainable

Development

23rd

UN/INTOSAI Symposium (2)

Representatives of UN DESA, INTOSAI,

participating SAIs as well as the representatives of

stakeholders provided their experiences and

adopted conclusions on

Expectations in SAIs by the development partners

regarding sustainable development

Prerequisites and

Possibilities for SAIs to effectively engage in the

Post-2015 Development Agenda

The participants suggest that the INTOSAI

community can contribute to the monitoring of the

SDG process by, inter alia:

21

23rd

UN/INTOSAI Symposium

Conclusions

• providing practical recommendations for the

establishment and of new systems for monitoring

and evaluating the SDGs

• considering the preparation of an INTOSAI annual

summary of audit findings on the SDG monitoring

systems

• joint or collaborative audits to assist in improving

the strength of national policies and to strengthen

SAI’s capacity to audit the SDGs

22

INTOSAI Knowledge Sharing

Committee (KSC)

In cooperation with the INTOSAI Development

Initiative (IDI), the KSC has launched an initiative to

start with a Community of Practice on the SDGs

A Project Team will be constituted to develop Audit

Guidelines for reviewing the preparedness of

countries for implementing the SDG

Cooperative audits on auditing preparedness for

implementing the SDGs will be conducted

Member SAIs can later take up audit of preparedness

of their countries based on the guidelines

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INCOSAI 2016 (1)

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December 2016

Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

INTOSAI Congress (INCOSAI)

2016 (2)

• Theme I of the coming XXII INOCSAI (2016)

will be

• “How INTOSAI can contribute to the UN post

2015 agenda including good governance in

order to strengthen the fight against

corruption?

25

INTOSAI Congress (INCOSAI)

2016 (3)

In this context, there are already several

initiatives going on, e.g.:

Proposal of an INTOSAI SDG Audit-based

Review (ISAR)

It will focus on the lessons learned from the

MDGs and the implications for the

implementation of the SDGs

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INTOSAI Strategic Plan 201

Monitoring and assessment of the Sustainable

Development Goals within the context of each

SAI's audit mandates = one of the five main

priorities of the INTOSAI Strategic Plan 2017-

2022

The INTOSAI Task Force on Strategic Planning

has started an initiative to investigate on and

coordinate the different ongoing initiatives in

INTOSAI regarding the SDGs

27

INTOSAI Task Force on

Strategic Planning

Questions to be tackled:

Analysis of the capabilities governments need to

meet

What has INTOSAI already done to audit those

needed capacities?

Where are still gaps?

What should INTOSAI further develop to support

knowledge sharing and SAI capacity development

on the specific capabilities governments need to

support sustainable development?

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Conclusion (1)

SAIs can help to avoid the mistakes from the

past by creating more accountability and

transparency as well as national ownership

SAIs play an important role in promoting good

governance at all levels by ensuring

efficiency, accountability, effectiveness and

transparency

By providing independent oversight

mechanisms, SAIs can essentially contribute

to the implementation of the Post-2015

Development Agenda

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Conclusion (2)

Strengthened SAIs, which play an active role in the

implementation of the Sustainable Development

Goals, can be of mutual benefit to all of us

We therefore ask all of you for your active support in

strengthening the role of SAIs through the inclusion

of

• independence of SAIs,

• capacity building of SAIs and the

• improvement of accounting systems

as essential elements in the Post-2015 Development

Agenda

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¡MUCHAS GRACIAS POR SU ATENCIÓN!

¡Thank you very much for your attention!

INTOSAI

www.intosai.org