For SAIs to remain relevant, auditors must have the necessary knowledge and tools to engage with cutting-edge technology.

Why does LOTA matter?

We live in a constantly changing world and Supreme Audit Institutions need to adapt to changes if they want to stay relevant. Technological advancement has been changing the way we live and with the current crisis, this process will only be accelerated. Even radical digitalization sceptics started to invest in technology as it is crucial for survival. With technological advancements organizations and people have to deal with enormous volumes of data and process this data faster than ever before​.

Governments are investing in technology and introducing new systems. On the one side, it allows governments to optimize their functions and provide better services for their citizens, on the other side it demands that SAIs get new skills and knowledge in order to cope with the new audit subjects.

What vision is LOTA working towards?

For SAIs it is important to understand the technological change around them, to assess the implications of this change for their working, to leverage on technological advancement in SAI audits and to be able to audit technologies employed by the government. 

In the LOTA initiative we will work towards the vision of seeing

• effective use of fit for purpose technology solutions for SAI audits and
• high quality and high impact audits of government actions for technological advancement from the perspective of accountability, transparency, effectiveness, and inclusiveness.

Embedded within this vision is our vision of seeing SAIs mainstream gender and inclusiveness considerations in their use of technology and SAIs contributing to mainstreaming of gender and inclusiveness considerations through their audits.

How does LOTA deliver value?
IDI uses four delivery mechanisms to deliver value, namely Enable, Explore, Inspire, and Connect. We work in an interconnected way across the four mechanism to achieve LOTA vision. As in the LOTA vision, gender and inclusiveness considerations will be mainstreamed through all four delivery mechanisms.

ENABLE
This is the delivery mechanism through which we provide direct support to SAIs. The support will consist of the following key elements:

1. LOTA Strategy for Audit: IDI supports SAIs in assessing the current external and internal environments, developing, and implementing LOTA Strategy. As a part of supporting SAIs in developing LOTA Strategy:
   1. IDI team worked together with an international team to develop a LOTA Scan Tool. This tool will help the SAIs in collecting and analyzing data about the technological advancements in their external environment e.g., level of digitalization in different areas of governance. The tool will also help SAIs in understanding their own mandates, processes, and professional capacities of people for leveraging on technological advancement. You may learn more about LOTA Scan Tool - HERE.
   2. IDI will support SAIs in developing a LOTA Strategy based on LOTA Scan results. The strategy will be aligned with the SAI’s overall strategy and use of technology in the general governance functions of the SAI. The support is provided through the provision of methodology, guidance, and templates.
2. LOTA Pioneers: The initiative that aims to create a pool of SAI change agents who will bring technology to SAI’s audit world by scanning their internal and external audit environments to strategize for leveraging on technology in audits and auditing the use of technology by governments. Besides creating a pool of LOTA Pioneers, this initiative is expected to result in LOTA scans, LOTA strategies and LOTA audits at the participating SAI level. Those candidates who successfully complete their education, scan / strategy and audit assignments will graduate as IDI’s LOTA Pioneers and become a part of an alumni network. You may learn more about LOTA Pioneers - HERE.

To support SAIs in the LOTA Strategy for Audit and in LOTA Audits IDI provides an integrated learning and support throughout these two key elements of Enable delivery mechanism. IDI has developed technology curriculum for the financial, performance and compliance auditors to ensure that they are familiar with the technology concepts, know what is possible and effectively communicate with other technical staff within SAI.

EXPLORE
LOTA Explore uses results of the IDI’s own scans of current and emerging technological trends that affect SAI audits to pick and prioritize issues to experiment with and innovate on. We work together with the community and use diverse mechanism like hackathons, sandboxes, pilots etc. for experimentation and development of fit for purpose innovative solutions. The work done in this area feeds into the work done in LOTA Enable, where we support SAIs in LOTA Strategy definition for the audit solution and in adapting solutions to their specific context.

INSPIRE
As the name suggests, under this strategic delivery mechanism we inspire SAIs and SAI auditors with latest developments and inspire key stakeholders to work with SAIs. The key delivery mechanisms in this segment are the LOTA Talks series. These are annually organized talks by experts and visionaries in the field from both public and private sector. We also team up with other stakeholders to organize online and in person advocacy and awareness raising events. The themes and topics are decided based on intelligence received from LOTA scans.  You may learn more about LOTA Talks - HERE.

CONNECT
To foster a community of technology experts – IDI plans to launch LOTA Connect, a platform to bring together technology-enabled auditors from SAIs and other stakeholders to share ideas, knowledge, experience, expertise and come together to co-create. The platform will be also integrated with LOTA Pioneers and will serve as a communication platform for Pioneers members and alumni.

Contacts

If you have any questions please contact IDI LOTA team at lo-ta@idi.no