News
International Auditor Fellowship Program
04/06/2024
The US GAO is accepting nominations for their International Auditor Fellowship Program. Deadline: 2 September 2024
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) is accepting nominations for the International Auditor Fellowship Program (IAFP) 2025! GAO’s annual International Auditor Fellowship Program is designed to strengthen SAIs´ ability to fulfil their missions and enhance accountability and governance worldwide.
Join a network of over 640 alumni from 109 countries.
The deadline for submitting nominations is 2 September 2024. The program will run from 2 April to 2 July 2025.
For more information please visit the IAFP webpage of the US Government Accountability Office
After a successful pilot implementation in the English-speaking regions of INTOSAI in 2022 and 2023, the IDI has responded to a call for support from SAIs in French-speaking Sub-Saharan Africa seeking assistance in establishing sustainable human resources management (HRM) as part of the TOGETHER Initiative.
After a successful pilot implementation in the English-speaking regions of INTOSAI (AFROSAI-E, ASOSAI, and EUROSAI) in 2022 and 2023, the IDI has responded to a call for support from SAIs in French-speaking Sub-Saharan Africa seeking assistance in establishing sustainable human resources management (HRM) as part of the TOGETHER Initiative.
The primary challenge faced by SAIs in this region in HRM revolves around institutional constraints related to accessing necessary human resources and effectively managing them based on the SAI’s priorities and requirements. Consequently, the TOGETHER Initiative aims to address these challenges tailored to the specific contexts of SAIs.
The official launch of the TOGETHER Initiative in the CREFIAF region was marked by an engaging and informative webinar held on May 16, 2024. This launch brought together not only representatives of the leadership from participating SAIs but also staff responsible for HRM and workforce management within these organizations. The 33 participants represent the SAIs from Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Comoros, Ivory Coast, Djibouti, Madagascar, and the Central African Republic. Following an eLearning phase that covers all aspects of the HRM cycle, team members will conduct a comprehensive assessment of their organisations’ HR practices using the human resources management maturity model developed by IDI. The evaluation will be built on diverse sources, including relevant data from recent SAI PMF assessments done by these SAIs under SPMR. Outcomes will be shared at an in-person workshop scheduled for September 2024 and will serve as a foundation for planning necessary actions and support to enhance pertinent aspects of the SAI HRM cycle from 2025.
The participation of experts from the SAIs of Morocco, Cameroon, Senegal and the UEMOA Court of Auditors enriches the implementation of the TOGETHER Initiative in CREFIAF.
FRENCH TRANSLATION
Après une mise en œuvre pilote réussie au sein des régions anglophones de l’INTOSAI (ARROSAI-E, ASOSAI et EUROSAI) en 2022 et 2023, l’IDI répond à la demande de soutien des ISC d’Afrique Francophone Subsaharienne pour les aider à developper des pratiques de gestion des ressources humaines (GRH) durables dans le cadre de l’Initiative TOGETHER. Le défi principal auquel font face les ISC de la région sur le plan de la GRH, concerne les limitations institutionnelles sur le plan de l’accès aux ressources humaines nécessaires et leur gestion autonome en fonction des priorités et des besoins de l’ISC. L’objectif sera donc à travers l’Initiative TOGETHER, de répondre à ces defis d’une manière adaptée au contexte des ISC.
Le lancement officiel de l’Initiative TOGETHER au CREFIAF s’est tenue sous la forme d’un webinaire introductif et interactif organisé le 16 mai 2024. Le lancement a réuni outre des représentants de la haute direction des ISC participantes, des personnels des ISC exerçant des responsabilités en matière de GRH et d’encadrement du personnel. Les participants viennent des ISC du Burkina Faso, du Burundi, du Cameroun, des Comores, de la Côte d’Ivoire, de Djibouti, de Madagascar, et de la République Centrafricaine. Après une étape de formation à distance couvrant l’intégralité des dimensions du cycle de GRH, les participants des différentes équipes procèderont à une evaluation intégrée des pratiques GRH de leurs organisations respectives, à l’aide du modèle de maturité de gestion des ressources humaines développé par l’IDI. Les résultats de cette revue, basée sur diverses sources y compris le CMP ISC, seront présentés lors d’un atelier en présentiel prévu pour septembre 2024, et constitueront une base pour projeter les actions et le soutien nécessaires pour améliorer les aspects pertinents du cycle de GRH de l’ISC à partir de 2025.
La mise en œuvre de l’Initiative TOGETHER au CREFIAF bénéficie de l’expertise d’un groupe de personnes ressources venant des ISC du Maroc, du Cameroun, du Sénégal et de la Cour des Compte de l’UEMOA.
Supreme Audit Institutions’ (SAIs) independence is crucial for transparent governance.
“SAIs across the globe exist literally to hold their governments to account. Their ability to investigate, audit, report on and share citizen-level information about government spending of public money and public sector service delivery must be without constraint.” – Mr. Einar Gørrissen, Director General of IDI
Upholding the independence of Supreme Audit Institutions is crucial for transparent governance. INTOSAI and INTOSAI Development Initiative advocate for the independence of SAIs to protect the implementation of their legal duties from government interference, which is in line with the Mexico and Lima Declarations. However, recent events and data show that SAI independence is at risk. We must rally behind independent auditing authorities to uphold transparency and public accountability worldwide. Read the article from Public Finance Focus in the link below to learn about recent developments in Sierra Leonehashta.
Here you can read the article from the Public Finance Focus
To learn more about SAI Independence Rapid Advocacy Mechanism (SIRAM), visit this webpage.
Recently, the IDI provided insights into the outcomes of the first week of the Design & Development workshop held within the framework of the IDI-ADB joint initiative ‘Sustainable performance audit practices in Asia and the Pacific’. Here, a global team including representatives from the six participating SAIs (Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Mongolia, Philippines, and Papua New Guinea), the INTOSAI Performance Audit Subcommittee, and the INTOSAI Capacity Building Committee’s Task Force on Auditor Professionalisation convened in Thimphu, Bhutan.
Tasks encompassed drafting a roadmap to raise the profile of performance audits, laddering the INTOSAI’s competency framework for performance audit professionals, brainstorming on enabling organisational structures for performance auditing, and enhancing the user-friendliness of performance audit methodologies. Additionally, a focus group comprising key stakeholders—from Bhutanese parliament’s Public Accounts Committee to public sector representatives and civil society organisations—contributed valuable insights.
During the second week, the focus shifted to developing educational content for impactful strategic and annual audit planning. Leveraging the IDI’s pilot playbook on ‘Planning for Impact’, the global team developed learning materials for interactive 5-day learning. These cover a range of topics, including the understanding of the ‘planning for impact’ concept, designing the audit impact value chain and strategic audit plans tailored to national contexts, subsequent design of capacity development plans to achieve the set goals, annual audit plans and monitoring, evaluation and learning framework.
Individual global team members from the participating SAIs led the design and development of individual learning sessions. With IDI’s support, they are now tasked with disseminating this learning to pertinent teams within their respective SAIs, encompassing not only performance auditors but also policy planners, human resource managers, and monitoring, evaluation, and quality management staff. Specifically, to promote the ‘planning for impact’ approach across all SAI functions, enhancing their ability to contribute to the SAI’s added value.
The roll-out of learning modules is scheduled to commence in early June, ensuring continuous availability thereafter.
IDI-ADB Workshop delivers strategic roadmap for Sustainable Performance Auditing in Asia-Pacific Region
Recently, the IDI provided insights into the outcomes of the first week of the Design & Development workshop held within the framework of the IDI-ADB joint initiative ‘Sustainable performance audit practices in Asia and the Pacific’. Here, a global team including representatives from the six participating SAIs (Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Mongolia, Philippines, and Papua New Guinea), the INTOSAI Performance Audit Subcommittee, and the INTOSAI Capacity Building Committee’s Task Force on Auditor Professionalisation convened in Thimphu, Bhutan.
Tasks encompassed drafting a roadmap to raise the profile of performance audits, laddering the INTOSAI’s competency framework for performance audit professionals, brainstorming on enabling organisational structures for performance auditing, and enhancing the user-friendliness of performance audit methodologies. Additionally, a focus group comprising key stakeholders—from Bhutanese parliament’s Public Accounts Committee to public sector representatives and civil society organisations—contributed valuable insights.
During the second week, the focus shifted to developing educational content for impactful strategic and annual audit planning. Leveraging the IDI’s pilot playbook on ‘Planning for Impact’, the global team developed learning materials for interactive 5-day learning. These cover a range of topics, including the understanding of the ‘planning for impact’ concept, designing the audit impact value chain and strategic audit plans tailored to national contexts, subsequent design of capacity development plans to achieve the set goals, annual audit plans and monitoring, evaluation and learning framework.
Individual global team members from the participating SAIs led the design and development of individual learning sessions. With IDI’s support, they are now tasked with disseminating this learning to pertinent teams within their respective SAIs, encompassing not only performance auditors but also policy planners, human resource managers, and monitoring, evaluation, and quality management staff. Specifically, to promote the ‘planning for impact’ approach across all SAI functions, enhancing their ability to contribute to the SAI’s added value.
The roll-out of learning modules is scheduled to commence in early June, ensuring continuous availability thereafter.
Congratulations to the SAI of Lebanon who entered in 2024 into a partnership with the SAI of France and IDI as part of the Global SAI Accountability Initiative (GSAI)!
The SAI of Lebanon entered into a partnership with the SAI of France and IDI as part of the Global SAI Accountability Initiative. In April 2024, SAI Lebanon signed a 2024-2025 cooperation agreement for peer-to-peer development support.
This strategic partnership, which also involves collaboration with the OECD-SIGMA, marks a significant milestone in Lebanon’s efforts to rebuild its public administration and regain the trust of its citizens.
This collaborative endeavor exemplifies the spirit of trustful peer cooperation within the International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI) community.
For further details about this partnership, please visit this page.
Together, we are shaping a future of accountable, inclusive, and effective governance!
The Asia-Pacific region, known for its diverse cultures and traditions, is now setting a new benchmark in sustainable performance audit practices. The Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) of Bangladesh, Bhutan, Mongolia, Nepal, Papua New Guinea, and the Philippines have come together under the IDI-ADB initiative to enhance sustainable performance audit practices, which consistently delivers relevant and high-quality (ISSAI compliant) performance audits (PA) that make a positive difference (impact).
The heart of this initiative is facilitating SAIs in setting up resilient systems for performance auditing, which endure through challenging circumstances, enabling SAIs to consistently deliver high-quality, high-impact audits that are relevant to people.
As part of Phase 1 (2022), SAIs assessed their current performance auditing practices using IDI’s Performance Audit iCAT and a set of exploratory questions on broader sustainable audit practices. Facilitated by IDI, SAIs ascertained their ISSAI implementation needs and sketched out future ambitions in setting performance audit goals, linking them with capacity development needs, and positioning performance auditing within the broader audit framework. This groundwork produced detailed assessment reports, which now form the foundation for Phase 2 of the initiative.
The six SAIs, facilitated by IDI, decided on seven envelopes to reach their goal of sustainable performance audit practices. A global team of resource persons from the six participating SAIs, the INTOSAI Performance Audit Subcommittee and the INTOSAI Capacity Building Committee’s Task Force on Auditor Professionalisation have gathered together in Thimphu, Bhutan, to design and develop education and knowledge products for some of the envelopes.
The team started its journey by deliberating on a roadmap for raising the performance audit profile of SAIs. The highlight of this work was the piloting of a focus group of key stakeholders. We were delighted to exchange views with SAI Bhutan’s stakeholders, ranging from the Chairman and Members of the Bhutanese parliament’s Public Accounts Committee to representatives of public sector institutions like Anti Corruption agency and representatives from key ministries and civil society organisations, especially those working for gender equality and persons with disability. This gathering provided a unique opportunity to discuss stakeholder expectations and to explore potential partnerships aimed at achieving a shared objective: delivering excellent public services to people through performance audits.
The team will also ladder the INTOSAI’s competency framework for Performance Audit Professionals to identify competencies for entry level, intermediate level and professional level performance auditors. Besides developing a generic framework, each SAI team will customize this framework for their own specific context. This piece connects global competencies to local competencies, adding value at both levels. The subsequent steps, which include enabling organizational structures for performance auditing, adding to the user-friendliness of performance audit methodologies, and developing educational content for impactful strategic and annual audit planning, are scheduled for the upcoming week.
We will be back with more news about the transformation brought by this initiative as SAIs progress on the seven envelopes, led by committed SAI leadership and facilitated by IDI and ADB.
The Global SAI Stocktaking Report 2023 is available now
Today we launched the INTOSAI Global SAI Stocktaking Report 2023. This triannual report presents trends for SAI performance and discusses needs for capacity development going forward. The findings are based on a comprehensive analysis of the responses to the INTOSAI Global SAI Survey. The INTOSAI Global SAI Survey covers the three-year period from 2020 to 2022, following the previous stocktaking exercise in 2020. The report integrates various data sources, such as SAI PMF, PEFA, and Varieties of Democracy (v-dem).
It covers five main sections: Institutional Capacities, SAI Governance, Professional Capacity, SAI Audit Impact, and the SAI Role in Fraud and Corruption.
The report and statistical annex will be available for download soon (PDF version). Please keep an eye out for them in the coming weeks. The report will also be available in Arabic, French and Spanish.
Read the report here: https://gsr.idi.no/
IF YOU MISS THE WEBINAR, YOU CAN WATCH THE RECORDING.
LIVE WEBINARS ON 22 APRIL 2024
Join us for our live webinars on Monday, 22 April 2024, to hear key findings and messages from the analysis of the INTOSAI Global Survey responded by 166 SAI in 2023.
Covering three years from the previous Global Stocktaking Report in 2020, IDI’s Director General, Einar Gørrissen, and Senior Manager Camilla Fredriksen of IDI’s Global Foundations Unit, who authored the report, will discuss the results in SAI Independence, Audit Impact, Gender, Capacity Development and more.
IDI’s Director General Einar Gørrissen discusses accountability and transparency in the ECA Journal
In the ECA Journal themed around Accountability and transparency: arrangements and practices, IDI’s Director General Einar Gørrissen shared his insights on how accountability is addressed by IDI, and discussed the capacity development being undertaken in terms of accountability and transparency.
The ECA Journal issue brings together contributions from OECD and IFAC experts in addition to SAIs and INTOSAI regions and bodies. Read the whole journal issue here.
The State Audit Office (SAO) of the Republic of Latvia reaffirmed its commitment to helping Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) by signing a new agreement with the INTOSAI Development Initiative (IDI).
In recent years, the SAO has contributed to IDI in various ways, including through funding for IDI’s bilateral work in the African region. The SAO engagement helped a number of SAIs to strengthen their governance and audit work.
“We have seen excellent results in IDI’s support of Supreme Audit Institutions around the world and we are happy to continue our annual funding over the coming years,” says Edgars Korcagins, Auditor General of the State Audit Office of Latvia.
IDI will use the new funding to continue supporting SAIs in sustainably enhancing their performance and capacities, focusing on the new three strategic priorities of digitalisation, sustainability and public trust in SAIs.
“I am thrilled about this renewed agreement with the SAO. In the past the SAO contributed both financially and through its expertise. It is great to see a continuation of this engagement, confirming our long-lasting and trusted partnership,” states Einar Gørrissen, Director General of IDI.
Going forward, the SAO will fund initiatives across IDI’s new Strategic Plan 2024-2029.
