Working with Supreme Audit Institutions

Supreme audit institutions (SAIs) are an integral part of country-based follow up and review of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The Addis Ababa Action Agenda resolved to strengthen national control mechanisms, such as supreme audit institutions and other independent oversight institutions. The General Assembly through its resolutions A/RES/66/209, A/RES/69/228, and A/RES/69/237 acknowledged the role of SAIs in promoting an efficient and accountable public administration conducive to the implementation of development priorities and the SDGs. It encouraged Member States and relevant United Nations institutions to continue their cooperation with the International Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI).

INTOSAI operates as an umbrella organisation for the external government audit community. It has special consultative status with the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). INTOSAI provides an institutionalised framework for SAIs to promote knowledge development and transfer, improve government auditing worldwide and enhance professional capacities, standing and influence of member SAIs in their countries.

UNDESA/DPIDG cooperates with INTOSAI and other stakeholders to support SAIs’ engagement with the SDGs.

Supreme Audit Institutions and Budget Credibility

The credibility of government budgets – determined by the ability of a government to meet its revenue and expenditure targets during a financial year - is essential for effective, transparent and accountable institutions, and explicitly reflected in global SDG indicator 16.6.1. DPIDG is collaborating with the International Budget Partnership (IBP) to support supreme audit institutions in conducting analyses of the credibility of government budgets through external audits.

Strengthening Budget Credibility through External Audits

Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) have an important role to play in strengthening the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals and ensuring that a country’s budget is on track. Checking and reporting on the legality and accuracy of public accounts, as well as the credibility of budgets, can be instrumental in governments delivering on their sustainable development promises.

“Strengthening Budget Credibility through External Audits: An Auditor’s Handbook” – the output of a two-year collaboration between Supreme Audit Institutions, civil society, international organizations, and other public finance experts – explores different approaches to auditing budget credibility. Drawing on SAIs’ experience in different regions, the result is a practical overview of existing and potential audit work that can contribute to improving budget credibility.

A pocket guide highlighting key threads and resources of the handbook is available here.

Read the full Handbook

The Introduction highlights the unique position of Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) to help assess and improve budget credibility; summarizes the status of audit work in this area; and provides an overview of the handbook.

Chapter 1 introduces the concept of budget credibility in the context of the wider public financial management (PFM) system and reviews relevant international standards and tools that provide useful resources for auditors.

Chapter 2 operationalizes the concept of budget credibility, reflects on strategic considerations for selecting budget credibility as an audit topic, and touches on relevant audit standards and processes. Annex 2.1 provides examples of credibility-related issues and risks that have been examined by SAIs.

Chapter 3 provides guidance on how to identify and assess budget credibility risks across the budget cycle at the whole-of-government level. Annex 3.1 offers questions to probe budget credibility risks at the whole-of-government level.

Chapter 4 focuses on SAI’s experience in auditing the performance of the PFM system using both audits and other assessment methodologies. Annexes 4.1 and 4.2 present examples of an evaluation method (RIAS) and an audit design matrix, respectively, for planning an assessment of the PFM system’s performance.

Chapter 5 provides guidance on auditing the state budget or year-end accounts on a recurring basis. These audits generally apply a financial and compliance focus to the annual budget cycle, but can also incorporate performance elements. Annex 5.1 provides a sample audit planning matrix to prepare an annual audit of the state budget examining budget credibility.

Chapter 6 examines auditing of budget credibility risks at the entity or program level. Annex 6.1 suggests selection criteria for auditing budget credibility and Annex 6.2 presents a self-checklist to guide auditors assessing budget credibility risks at the program/entity level.

Chapter 7 highlights the importance of monitoring and follow-up to audit recommendations, illustrating different ways SAIs can work with stakeholders to meaningfully strengthen budget credibility. Elements of a strong audit report are also emphasized. Annex 7.1 suggests ways to integrate budget credibility into the audit process while enhancing stakeholder engagement.

Read the advance unedited version of the full Handbook in French.

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Click here to view the online launch of the handbook.

Auditing the Sustainable Development Goals

The INTOSAI Development Initiative (IDI), in collaboration with INTOSAI’s Knowledge Sharing Committee (KSC), UNDESA/DPIDG and other partners, launched a programme on Auditing the Sustainable Development Goals in 2016. The programme supported SAIs to conduct cooperative performance audits of preparedness for implementation of the SDGs in their national contexts. Over 70 SAIs and one sub-national audit institution, from all regions, participated in the programme.

Guidance on how to audit SDG preparedness and how to audit SDG implementation was developed as part of the programme.

The initiative convened annual meetings of SAIs’ leadership and stakeholders to foster substantive discussions and knowledge-sharing on SAI contributions to the SDGs.

Materials from the meetings

Joint UN-IDI meeting 2017, Report
Joint UN-IDI meeting 2018, Report
Joint UN-IDI meeting 2019, Report, Video

Access to SDG audit reports is available through the INTOSAI SDG Atlas.

UN/INTOSAI Seminars

The UN/INTOSAI seminars are organised by the General Secretariat. The technical programme is designed by the General Secretariat in cooperation with the United Nations.

At the inter-regional level, 25 seminars on government auditing were organized under the auspices of the United Nations.

Proceedings and report of the 25th UN/INTOSAI Symposium

The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs and the General Secretariat of INTOSAI are pleased to announce the publication of the proceedings and report of the 25th UN/INTOSAI Symposium. They contain valuable insights on SAIs' approaches to tackling the challenges imposed by the pandemic as well as lessons learned for the future. The proceedings can be accessed here and the narrative report here.

Reports for all previous symposiums

UN Resources

Find UN materials (publications, presentations, and other materials) relevant to external auditing and the SDGs.

Presentations

Publications