Making Audit Follow-Up and Quality Management Work in Practice
Two highly interactive Design and Development Workshops on Follow-Up for Audit Impact and Systems for Audit Quality Management took place in Kathmandu, Nepal, from 10-21 February 2025. These workshops were part of the IDI-ADB Sustainable Performance Audit Practices in Asia and the Pacific Initiative, with six participating SAIs – Bangladesh, Bhutan, Mongolia, Nepal, Papua New Guinea, and the Philippines – driving the action.
Now in its third year, the Initiative has already tackled key areas such as raising the profile of performance audits, strategic and annual audit planning, developing multi-level competency frameworks for performance auditors, and maintaining updated performance audit methodologies. The 2025 agenda kicked off with two major priorities: strengthening follow-up systems to demonstrate audit impact and implementing quality management systems in line with ISSAI 140, which officially took effect on January 1, 2025.
Instead of sitting back and passively absorbing information, participating SAIs got straight to work – an approach that has become the trademark of this Initiative. With IDI’s structured guidance and dedicated tools, SAIs were not just listening to how things should be done, – they were building their solutions to fit their realities. Learning by doing? More like learning by doing it for real.
For Follow-Up for Audit Impact, SAI resource persons – we call them the Global Team – designed and developed a learning course that will be delivered in their SAIs before they begin the process of establishing or updating impact-driven follow-up systems. The goal? To move beyond counting the number of implemented recommendations and ensure audit results lead to real change.
For Systems for Audit Quality Management, the Global Team worked through the operational challenges of structuring and managing ISSAI 140 implementation in their SAIs. The focus was not just on what needs to be done but how to make it work in practice.
One of the most rewarding moments of the workshops was seeing SAIs take full ownership of the process – recognising challenges, developing solutions, and leading improvements in their own institutions. The shift from learning about reforms to actively shaping them was evident, and the commitment from participants was impressive.
Let’s hear what they had to say:
🔹 “A roadmap for real change”
“This workshop gave us clarity and the tools to foster change. I am clear on my role and now know exactly what to do when I return to my SAI. As we say in Mongolia – ‘If I am alone, I make mistakes. If we do it together, we excel’, – I feel I am not alone in this journey! I will do my utmost to ensure that this journey helps my SAI”.
🔹 “From theory to action”
“More practice, less theory and structured, purposeful approach – this workshop was about solving real challenges together. We clarified all our questions and strengthened our ability to help our SAI to make a real difference in the lives of our people.”
Let’s look at how the system of Audit Quality Management meeting went by watching this short video.
The work is not over yet! The Global Team remains in Kathmandu for another week, this time to design and develop a learning course for induction and intermediate-level performance auditors for constant delivery at their SAIs, based on competency frameworks SAIs developed with IDI-ADB support in 2024.
Stay tuned for the journey toward stronger and more impactful SAIs continues! To learn more, please visit the initiative´s page.
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