Draft FINAL REPORT

of the INTOSAI Working Group

on Accountability for and Audit of Disaster-related Aid

April 2013

Guidance for SAIs and Proposals for Accountability arrangements in humanitarian aid

Submitted to the XXI INCOSAI, 20 26 October 2013, Beijing, China

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Cover image:

Van, Turkey, October 2011 7.1 Richter Scale earthquake: A two-week old baby is pulled alive from the rubble

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Table of Contents

Foreword

1. History and mandate of the INTOSAI Working Group AADA

2. Executive summaries of ISSAIs

3. Audit guidance

Parallel audit on disaster preparedness

Parallel audit on disaster-related aid

Other material

4. Executive summary of INTOSAI GOV 9250

5. Accountability

Aid transparency initiatives

Accountability standards for aid organisations

Harmonization of accountability standards, financial reporting and promotion of single audit

Guidance to create and review an IFAF table

Introduction of harmonised reporting and auditing in the UN

6. Evaluation and way forward

Evaluation of the activities and proceedings

Dissolving the Working Group AADA

Follow-up the ISSAIs

Follow-up of the GOV

Capacity development

7. Summary and proposal

Annexes

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Foreword

By Gijs de Vries, Chairman of the INTOSAI Working Group on Accountability for and Audit of Disaster-related Aid (AADA) and Member of the European Court of Auditors.

To eradicate extreme poverty and hunger remains one of the worlds most urgent challenges. Disaster can strike at any moment and undermine national and international efforts to combat poverty, relieve suffering and build a more just world. During the last 12 years 1.1 million people were killed by disasters, 2.7 million people were affected and the economic losses amounted to an estimated 1.3 trillion USD. When disaster strikes humanitarian aid often plays a vital role in saving lives, alleviating poverty and maintaining human dignity. At xxx billion in 2011 the volume of humanitarian aid is significant, although the global economic crisis is beginning to affect aid levels, and in 2011 the proportion of unmet humanitarian financing needs was greater, almost 40%, than in any year since 2001.

Aid must therefore be used carefully and effectively. SAIs can provide assurance that money has been spent as intended. Through their audits SAIs can also help to raise the efficiency and effectiveness of aid. In this way, SAIs can help to save lives, alleviate suffering and improve recovery from disaster. This is the purpose for which the ISSAIs on auditing disaster-related aid have been drafted. A separate proposal seeks to enhance the accountability of humanitarian aid. The Working Group has developed and tested the Integrated Financial Accountability Framework, and made it available for implementation by aid providers.

The Working Group invited comments on the draft guidance both from the INTOSAI community and from third parties. Many SAIs, but also UN organisations, the World Bank and NGOs expressed their appreciation for the quality of the guidelines presented and welcomed the financial reporting framework developed by the Working Group (see also annex 9).

The European Court of Auditors has been honoured to chair this INTOSAI Working Group for the past six years. I am grateful to the two vice-chairs of the Working Group, the Audit Board of Indonesia BPK and the Dutch Court of Audit as well as to all the Members of the Working Group for their countless valuable contributions By preparing this guidance the Working Group and INTOSAI as a whole have joined a worldwide movement for improving the accountability and transparency of aid. SAIs are well-positioned to promote good governance in the administration of humanitarian aid. Our challenge is to help governments and their partners maximise the impact of aid - its economy, efficiency, and effectiveness - while minimising the risks of fraud and corruption, to the benefit of the victims of humanitarian disasters. This is more than a professional challenge;it is above all a moral obligation.

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1 History, mandate and organisation of the Working Group 1.1 The interest of SAIs in accountability for and the audit of disaster-related aid reflects the growing interest shown by the media, disaster victims, and donors (including taxpayers) in the use of disaster-related funds. Interest turned into action following the experience of SAIs after the disaster which occurred in South East Asia in 2004. On 26 December, the third biggest earthquake ever recorded struck off the west coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. It triggered a series of devastating tsunamis along the coasts of most landmasses bordering the Indian Ocean, killing over 230,000 people in fourteen countries, and inundating coastal communities with waves up to 30 meters high. It was one of the deadliest natural disasters in recorded history. Indonesia was the hardest hit country, followed by Sri Lanka, India, and Thailand. The plight of the affected people and countries prompted a worldwide humanitarian response. In all, the worldwide community donated more than USD14 billion in humanitarian aid.

1.2 This vast amount of aid flowed from many different donors to many different recipients. Arrangements for the coordination and reporting of the aid were not in place. SAIs and other stakeholders assessed the situation and found that there was little information on aid flows and that it was difficult to establish an audit trail. In 2005, INTOSAI decided to contribute its collective auditing experience to the international community to enhance the accountability for and the transparency of disaster-related aid. The aim was to establish an overview of the tsunami-related aid flows based on the information provided by individual stakeholders (donors, international organisations, intermediary bodies and recipients) and to collaborate on the audit of the aid. 1.3 In January 2005 at the meeting of the INTOSAI Finance and Administration Committee INTOSAI members discussed what INTOSAI could do to enhance accountability over tsunami aid spending. The INTOSAI Governing Board established the INTOSAI Task Force on the Accountability and Audit of Emergency Aid in November 2005. The Tsunami Task Force tried to establish an overview of the tsunami-related aid based on information provided by individual stakeholders. It proved impossible to get such an overall picture with a sufficient degree of completeness and reliability. It was impossible to find an appropriate audit trial. The Task Force concluded there was a need for an international agreement on a single information structure, which would also allow for an audit trail. It also concluded that new technologies (like Geographical Information Systems, GIS) would provide new opportunities for auditing disaster-related aid. The Task Force recommended that guidance should be prepared on best practice for financial reporting in this area and on appropriate tools for the audit of disaster-related aid. INTOSAI accordingly set up the INTOSAI Working Group on Accountability for and the Audit of Disaster-related Aid at the XIX INCOSAI in Mexico in 2007.

1.4 INCOSAI in 2007 gave the Working Group the following mandate:

a) to strive for enhanced accountability and transparency of disaster-related aid, in close cooperation with relevant stakeholders, by addressing the issue of the lack of a single information structure, and

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b) to develop guidelines and best practices for SAIs auditing disaster-related aid.

1.5 In 2010 the XX INCOSAI in South Africa commended the work being undertaken and extended the mandate by asking the Working Group to examine the usefulness of its work for the whole of humanitarian aid.

1.6 Both during its first and second mandate the Working Group translated the two overall objectives into a dozen concrete tasks, half of them relating to the accountability objective and half of them aimed at developing guidelines for SAIs auditing disaster-related aid. For more details on the Working Groups Work Programmes and which SAI was responsible for what see annex x). Apart from guidelines for the audit of disaster-related aid the audit of disaster-preparedness of governments, the auditors awareness of risks of fraud and corruption and the use of GIS as an audit tool were identified as topics warranting specific guidelines.

1.7 To realise the above objectives the Working Groups strategy was to address the stakeholders through the international standard setting bodies active in the various stakeholder categories, for which the Working Group built on the stakeholder analysis work carried out by the Task Force till 2007. Particularly in the area of accountability the Working Group has directed its activities towards important stakeholders (donor and recipient governments, international organisations, aid organisations) and, if feasible, its standard setting bodies, like for example OECD/DAC and the Good Humanitarian Donorship (GHD). For some of the tasks relating to audit guidelines the same strategy of addressing international standard setting bodies was followed, mostly resulting in contacts within INTOSAI in order to present ISSAIs for this objective. 1.8 The different tasks identified were divided amongst the members of the Working Group and individual work fiches per tasks were created, progress reports drafted and reported to the Working Group meetings, which were held on an annual basis since 2008. During these meetings also draft guidelines for audit and best practices found in the area of accountability were discussed and amended. The SAIs responsible for drafting the audit guidance on disaster-preparedness (SAI of Turkey) and disaster-related aid (SAI of Indonesia) also organised and coordinated a parallel audit or feedback, by means of surveys, on the drafts prepared. Apart from responsibility for a number of tasks, the European Court of Auditors as chair also monitored and coordinated the work of the SAIs involved. Regular exchange on progress was requested and received from the SAIs responsible for specific tasks, and the Governing Board and the INTOSAI Knowledge Sharing Steering Committee were regularly informed about the progress made. The Working Group established a dedicated website to its work, documents produced and achievements made at http://eca.europa.eu/intosai-aada

1.9 At the end of its second term, the Working Group had completed its work and was in a position to present to the XXI INCOSAI in China in October 2013 the following:

A new 5500 series of ISSAIs containing five ISSAIs on auditing disaster-related aid including examples of good practice provided by SAIs which were WG members or which participated in coordinated audits, surveys or widespread consultation on auditing disaster-related aid.

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An INTOSAI GOV presenting the Integrated Financial Accountability Framework (the IFAF), as a framework for reporting and making publically available transparent, verified information on humanitarian aid.

A final report about the work of the Working Group.

1.10 Since it was established in 2008, the Working Group has had a membership of between 18 and 23 SAIs with a balance of representatives from donor and potential aid recipient countries and from a wide variety of geographical locations. 1 Membership has remained fairly constant over the six years of the life of the Working Group. In May 2013, the following SAIs were members: Austria, Chile, China, the European Court of Auditors, France, Georgia, India, Indonesia, Jamaica, Japan, Kenya, Korea (Republic of), the Netherlands, Norway, Pakistan, Peru, the Philippines, Romania, Russian Federation, Sri Lanka, Turkey, the Ukraine2 and the United States of America. The European Court of Auditors chaired the Working Group and provided its secretariat.

1.11 Working Group meetings were held in:

- Luxembourg, July 2008, hosted by the European Court of Auditors;

- Seoul, June 2009, hosted by the Korean Board of Audit and Inspection;

- Lima, July 2010, hosted by the Office of the Comptroller General of Peru;

- Johannesburg, November 2010, within the framework of the XX INCOSAI;

- Antalya, October 2011, hosted by the Turkish Court of Accounts;

- Yogyakarta, June 2012, hosted by the Audit Board of Indonesia;

- Valparaiso, May 2013, hosted by the Office of the Comptroller General of Chile.

2 Output on audit guidance: executive summaries of ISSAIs

2.1 For its objective to provide guidelines and best practices for SAIs auditing disaster-related aid the Working Group has chosen to create a new series of ISSAIs for this specific area: the 5500 series.

2.2 The 5500 series of ISSAIs reflects current good practice, making reference to ISSAIs and other auditing standards, includes examples and proposes practical solutions for auditing disaster-

1 Members include 6 of the top 10 donors and 2 of the top 10 recipients, according to the 2012 Global Humanitarian Assistance

Report. See http://www.globalhumanitarianassistance.org/report/gha-report-2012

2 The audit of disaster-related aid has also been addressed by the EUROSAI Task Force on the audit of funds allocated to disasters and catastrophes, chaired by the SAI of the Ukraine. See http://www.ac-rada.gov.ua/control/eurosai/en/

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related aid. The individual ISSAIs are closely related and cross referenced including to the guidance on general audit methodology and procedures in the third and fourth level ISSAIs, especially those on financial audit, performance audit and compliance audit. As is the case for other INTOSAI auditing standards, this guidance is not mandatory and each SAI should consider the extent to which the guidance is compatible with its mandate. The ISSAIs build upon INTOSAIs Fundamental Auditing Principles and standards promulgated by other standard setting organisations with which INTOSAI has a cooperation agreement, such as the International Federation of Accountants.

2.3 ISSAI 5500 introduces and provides an overview of the series of ISSAIs on disaster-related aid and INTOSAI GOV 9250. ISSAIs 5510 and 5520 cover the audit of the pre- and post-disaster phases respectively. ISSAI 5530 considers the specific risks of fraud and corruption which arise due to the emergency nature of much of disaster-related aid. ISSAI 5540 presents geospatial information as a tool for auditing the pre- and post-disaster phases. The ISSAIs contain examples of auditing disaster-related aid and can be used as a source of information or as additional guidance to supplement the general guidance provided for SAIs in the level three and four ISSAIs.

2.4 Figure 1 shows the link between the 5500 series of ISSAIs and the different activities of disaster-related aid across the disaster-management cycle.

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Figure 1: The ISSAIs and the activities of disaster-related aid

Source: Prepared for WG AADA by the SAI of Indonesia

2.5 Depending on the legal and regulatory framework and the mandate of the SAI, the ISSAIs on disaster-related aid can be used for audits at all levels of government: central, regional as well as local. Auditors of private entities such as NGOs receiving and managing public funds may also find the 5500 series of ISSAIs relevant to their work. In addition, appendix 4 of ISSAI 5520 includes an example of specific guidance for private auditors of NGOs.

Content of ISSAIs 5510 to 5540

ISSAI 5510

2.6 ISSAI 5510 on auditing disaster risk reduction recognises the increasing emphasis by governments and international organisations on the risk of disasters and on reducing their potential impact through adequate preparation. It focuses on the pre-disaster phase and covers the audit of activities designed to prevent, mitigate and prepare for potential disaster.

2.7 ISSAI 5510 is structured as follows:

Part 1 defines disasters, disaster management and disaster risk reduction and explores the political and operational context of auditing disaster risk reduction.

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Part 2 explores the issues SAIs are faced with when planning or conducting an audit of disaster risk reduction. It draws examples from the experiences of SAIs in auditing disaster risk reduction, gathered by means of surveys and a parallel audit conducted amongst SAIs. Part 3 proposes an audit programme to assist SAIs in auditing disaster risk reduction.

2.8 The SAI of Turkey led the preparation of ISSAI 5510. It consulted with SAIs and other organisations across the world, carried out surveys and coordinated an audit of disaster risk reduction (see also section 3).3

ISSAI 5520

2.9 ISSAI 5520 on auditing disaster-related aid takes account of the notable features of post-disaster activity, which include large amounts of resources flowing into disaster-affected areas, where there is pressure to deliver aid rapidly to individuals in great need. Aid may be disbursed by a number of different actors with varying levels of experience. There is often lack of coordination and inattention to the accountability and reporting of disaster-related aid, which renders the establishment of an audit trail difficult. This ISSAI focuses on immediate emergency activities of response and relief and on rehabilitation and reconstruction activities carried out in the aftermath of disasters.

2.10 ISSAI 5520 is structured as follows:

Part 1 defines disaster and the different phases of disaster management.

Part 2 defines disaster-related aid and key players and features of disaster-related aid and develops a matrix of the key topics and risks in the management of disaster-related aid.

Part 3 highlights aspects of the audit process illustrated by the experiences of SAIs which have audited disaster-related aid: cooperation between auditors, information and data gathering, selection of audit topics, financial, performance and compliance auditing of disaster-related aid, reporting disaster-related aid and tools for auditing disaster-related aid.

2.11 The SAI of Indonesia led the preparation of ISSAI 5520. It consulted with SAIs and other organisations across the world, carried out surveys and coordinated an audit of disaster-related aid (see also.4)

ISSAI 5530

2.12 ISSAI 5530 on adapting audit procedures to take account of the increased risk of fraud and corruption in the emergency phase following a disaster has been prepared to assist auditors in addressing the risk of fraud and corruption following a disaster. ISSAI 5530 expands on ISSAI 1240 in broadening the scope to consider the risk of corruption as well as of fraud. It focuses on the phase following disasters, when procedures and controls might not function as they may normally be

3 The SAIs of Azerbaijan, Chile, India, Indonesia, the Netherlands, Pakistan, the Philippines, Romania, Ukraine and Turkey

contributed to or participated in the coordinated audit.

4 The SAIs of India, Indonesia Pakistan and Turkey participated in the coordinated audit.

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expected to do. To assist auditors, the ISSAI outlines risks and red flags of which auditors should be aware and provides advice on how to adapt audit procedures accordingly.

2.13 ISSAI 5530 is structured as follows:

Part 1 defines terms and the role of SAIs. Part 2 refers auditors to the guidance available and the challenges raised by the risk of fraud and corruption in disaster-related aid. Part 3 brings together and illustrates the relevant risks and indicators of fraud and corruption in the emergency phase following a disaster. Part 4 proposes ways in which auditors may consider adapting procedures to take account of the increased risks.

2.14 The SAI of the European Union led the preparation of ISSAI 5530. It includes examples provided by SAIs and other organisations across the world.

ISSAI 5540

2.15 ISSAI 5540 presents the use of geospatial information and Geographical Information Systems (GIS) as tools for managers and auditors of disaster-related aid across the disaster management cycle. In addition to providing best practice and guidance on how to use geospatial information for auditing disaster-related aid, this ISSAI provides a comprehensive introduction to geospatial information and may therefore also be useful for SAIs conducting audits in areas not related to disasters or disaster-related aid. The appendices to the ISSAI provide background information and practical examples.

2.16 ISSAI 5540 is structured as follows:

Part 1 introduces GIS. Part 2 presents the specific characteristics of GIS (types, sources and quality issues) and describes how GIS can help in analysing geospatial information and how this is done in the public sector. Part 3 describes the use of geospatial information in the various activities of disaster management. Parts 4 and 5 describe the use of geospatial information for auditing disaster risk reduction and for auditing response and recovery activities.

2.17 The SAI of the Netherlands led the preparation of ISSAI 5540. It was assisted in this by experts in the field.

2.18 The 5500 series of ISSAIs on disaster-related aid are published by INTOSAI on the website of the Professional Standards Committee.5

5 www.issai.org

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3 Additional output on audit guidance

Parallel audit on disaster preparedness

3.1 In order to present audit guidance that was practical and illustrated with examples one of the tasks identified by the Working Group was to organise a parallel audit on the audit of disaster preparedness or also called disaster risk reduction. The SAI responsible for drafting the audit guidance on this topic, the Turkish Court of Accounts, also took up the responsability to organise such an audit. Main aim was to test the draft audit guidelines under discussion in the Working Group and improve its contents.

3.2 Ten SAIs participated in the parallel audit, which had a broad scope of possible topics that SAIs could include, main criteria being that it related to disaster preparedness (Arife explicitly uses this instead of disaster risk reduction) and that the draft audit guidance was used. Among the participating SAIs surveys were held to coordinate issues concerning the design and implementation of the parallel audit, which common questions could be addressed, which ways information would be shared, the presentation of the results of the audits and the feedback on the draft guidance, i.e. a draft version of ISSAI 5510 that was used for the audit.

3.3 Three meetings were organised between the participating SAIs, and during the last meeting, held in February 2013, individual audit results were presented and common ways for reporting, also by means of a joint report, were discussed. This joint report is scheduled to be published at the end of 2013.

3.4 Participating SAIs could use their own audit questions and criteria, although some SAIs used common questions and criteria. Different types of audits were conducted, ranging from compliance to performance audits. This was considered useful to show SAIs for which issues what type and scope of audit can be considered.

3.5 The parallel audit effort led to:

- testing and improving the contents of ISSAI 5510 and providing concrete examples regarding the application of the guidelines presented. Experiences that could not be included in the endorsement version prepared for the XXI INCOSAI will be used for the future update of ISSAI 5510;

- the publication of several audit reports on disaster preparedness and a joint report. This joint report can be used by SAIs as reference material when deciding about their own audits in this area;

- establishment and collection of training material, based on the experiences of the parallel audit;

- a lessons learned paper will be drawn up, reflecting the parallel audit experiences and recommendations that can provide feedback for ISSAI 5000 on Principles for Best Audit Arrangements for International Institutions and Guide for Cooperative Audit Programes between SAIs.

3.6 More details concerning this parallel audit can be found in annex 1.

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Parallel audit/survey on disaster-related aid

3.7 In preparation of the audit guidelines on disaster-related aid the SAI of Indonesia, the Audit Board of Indonesia (BPK), conducted two surveys.

3.8 The BPK organised the first survey from October 2009 to January 2010 with the objective to gather data and information on SAIs mandate and experience for the audit of disaster-related aid. In Total 35 SAIs participated in the survey, respondents indicating that most of them have the mandate considered necessary but several SAIs indicated to face serious constraints in meeting the requirements of their mandate. The BPK also created a list of audits in this area done by the responding SAIs, see also appendix 5 of ISSAI 5520.

3.9 The BPK organised a second survey in early 2012 towards selected SAIs with the objective to enhance the usefulness of the guidance drafted and obtain feedback concerning the audit design matrix. Five SAIs replied and the feedback was useful to improve the section on risk in the draft ISSAI 5520.

3.10 In 2012 the BPK initiated a parallel audit to test and provide feedback on the draft ISSAI 5520, including the audit design matrix presented there, to share experiences in auditing the rehabilitation and reconstruction phase, and to develop a lessons learned report. Four SAIs will be participating in the parallel audit while one SAI committed to be an observer. The audit proposed is a performance audit, aimed at the implementation of the audit design matrix of the draft ISSAI 5520. The outcome of the parallel audit will be used to present a joint audit report and use the lessons learned to review ISSAI 5520 for its first revision after adoption by the XXI INCOSAI.

3.11 For more information see annex 2.

Other material

3.12 To provide practical and concrete examples summaries of audit work done by the SAIs of Peru, China, Japan, the European Court of Auditors, India, the USA and Indonesia have been made and are presented as appendix 6 to 12 in ISSAI 5520. This ISSAI also presents as appendix 3 the guidelines developed by the SAI of Chile for private firms when auditing humanitarian aid.

4 Output on accountability: executive summary of INTOSAI GOV 9250

4.1 The transparency of and accountability for humanitarian aid has become an issue of considerable importance for donors and other stakeholders in recent years. Supreme Audit Institutions are well-positioned to promote accountability and transparency. Through their audits, they can identify weaknesses in the existing arrangements and propose improvements to make disaster-related aid better reported, more accountable and more effective. In this context, SAIs have reported a need for better quality financial reporting and greater availability of information on flows of disaster-related aid. There is a need for consistently reliable and complete information concerning the individual flows of disaster-related aid to allow an overall picture of the situation to be constructed and to form a global view of the volume of aid donated for humanitarian crises, of who

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contributed aid and of where and on what it was spent. At the same time the reporting requirements on organisations should not constitute an untenable burden.

4.2 To meet the need thus identified by SAIs, the Working Group on Accountability for and the Audit of Disaster-related Aid has prepared INTOSAI-GOV 9250, which presents the Integrated Financial Accountability Framework (IFAF). The IFAF is a framework for preparing and making publically available standardised ex post financial reports on humanitarian aid flows. These financial reports take the form of IFAF tables prepared by all entities involved in the donation, receipt or implementation of humanitarian aid.

4.3 IFAF tables in a nutshell

Each entity required to report on transfers of humanitarian aid prepares an IFAF table.

IFAF tables are made publicly available.

The aid can be financial or in-kind (expressed in its equivalent monetary value).

IFAF tables include transfers of aid into and out of the entity preparing the IFAF table (not pledges or accrued expenditure) in the calendar year ending 31 December *.

The currency for IFAF tables is US Dollars (USD) *.

The language of IFAF tables is English *.

When preparing IFAF tables, entities respect the same rules as those applied for drawing up their financial statements.

The data for preparing IFAF tables is the same as that used for preparing the entities financial statements.

The external auditor of the entity audits the IFAF table and provides a statement to this effect. (*) These requirements are important for IFAF tables to be comparable. Solutions are under development for entities not using the 31 December as the year end, not using USD and not using English.

4.4 IFAF tables have been tested by a variety of donors and recipients of humanitarian aid. These tests have been successful: organisations have found it easy to prepare IFAF tables using data already existing in their financial systems. Furthermore the tests showed that IFAF tables are simple to prepare and understand, standardised, can be verified and are transparant. IFAF has been welcomed by several donors (like the Netherlands, Sweden, the World Bank), international organisations, including several UN organisations and NGOs (Humanitarian Accountability Partnership, Catholic Relief Services). See also par. 6.3 and annex 1.

4.5 Optimum use of IFAF tables requires that they should be available as open data. There are many open data intiatives working towards meeting the goal of aid effectiveness through the availability of better information. Discussions are currently underway between the Working Group and the International Aid Transparancy Initiative (IATI) on the possibility of integrating the production of IFAF tables into IATI and using the IATI registry to publicise the location of the tables.

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4.6 The main role in implementing and developing the IFAF necessarily falls to donors which can prepare IFAF tables themselves and ask recipients of humanitarian aid to report in this way. Donors can support the inclusion of the IFAF tables in an appropriate open data initiative and oversee its development in this context.

4.7 More information about IFAF is provided in INTOSAI GOV 9250.6

5 Additional output on accountability

Aid transparency initiatives

5.1 To make an inventory on what kind of aid transparency intiatives could be used to for a basis for the harmonisation of accountability standards the SAI of Korea made an inventory of the transparency initiatives available. The conclusion was that the transparency and financial tracking systems developed were more focusing on projected aid instead of where aid had actually arrived.

5.2 During its second mandate the SAI of Korea, with the aid of the European Court of Auditors, analysed what lessons could be learned from the experiences could be learned from aid transparency initiatives, and particularly the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI) with possible implications for the reporting framework that the Working Group had developed, being IFAF. A number of differences (particularly concerning non-audited versus audited material) and complementary elements (standards for reporting on a global scope, similar audiences and stakeholders) were identified. Therefore the Working Group sees opportunities for cooperation with and integration of IFAF data into IATI. Such development would be very suitable in view of the increasing trend to open data, also for financial reporting purposes.

5.3 For more information see annex 3.

Accountability standards for aid organisations

5.4 Since for emergency aid donors tend to prefer to work with organisations which have a proven record, also as financial accountability is concerned, the Working Group searched for initiatives that set out accountability standards particularly for non-governmental aid organisations. It turned out that the Humanitarian Accountability Partnership (HAP) had not only developed accountability standards but also developed a certification scheme to check compliance of aid agencies on a regular basis.

5.5 On behalf of the Working Group the European Court of Auditors advised HAP in updating its HAP Standard, with particular advice concerning internal control systems and improved financial accountability. HAP welcomed IFAF as a financial reporting model and referred to it in the HAP Guide, created to provide advice on how to implement the HAP Standard. HAP also provided comments on the draft INTOSAI GOV 9250.

6 http://www.issai.org/composite-194.htm

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5.6 For more information see annex 4.

Harmonisation of accountability standards, financial reporting and promotion of single audit

5.7 To promote accountability standards the Working Group has targeted the providers of humanitarian aid, and in particular public donors, as important stakeholders to implement harmonised accountability standards and reporting, for which IFAF is developed.

5.8 Prior to the development of IFAF the Working Group (SAI of Norway and the European Court of Auditors) analysed the extent to which OECD/DAC guidelines Harmonising Donor Practices for Effective Aid Delivery? Can be used as a basis for harmonised financial reporting. Because these Practices did not address the specific principle of the Good Humanitarian Donorship (GHD) regarding accountability the Working Group developed IFAF and addressed the GHD to promote its implementation.

5.9 To test IFAF the Working Group approached donors, intermediary organisations (particularly in the UN) and aid organisations to draft IFAF tables. Results of their efforts are reflected as examples of pilot IFAF tables in appendix 6 of GOV 9250.

5.10 The Working Group also explored ways in which the audit of IFAF table by the external auditor of the entity producing the IFAF table can help to collaborate with other auditors and decrease the overall audit costs. The SAI of Norway has developed checklists for this purpose, which can be consulted at the KSC website at www.intosaiksc.org. Several advantages of this approach have been identified, although for some parties, particularly entities engaging their external auditor for this work, additional audit costs will initially occur.

5.11 For more information see annex 5.

Guidance material for the creation and the review of an IFAF table

5.12 Within the Working Group task of development of audit guidelines for private auditors of aid organisations the SAI of Chile has made a guide for producing and IFAF table, this in cooperation with the aid organisation Un techo Para Chile that volunteered to create an IFAF table on a pilot basis. This IFAF table is presented as an example in appendix 6 of GOV 9250. The guide offers steps for presenting the receipts and payment parts of the table and provides advice on what kind of review the entity producing the IFAF table needs to undertake.

5.13 The SAI of Chile developed, in cooperation with private audit firms an audit guide for reviewing an IFAF table. The guide was tested through a pilot audit on the IFAF table produced by the NGO Un Techo Para Chile. The audit guide distinguishes three aspects (control environment, information analysis, accountability) with several subquestions for each element. The guidance is particularly aimed at NGOs who do not have a strong internal audit framework and can be found at the website of the INTOSAI Knowledge Sharing Committee at www.intosiaksc.org

5.14 See for more information annex 6

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Introduction of Harmonised reporting and auditing in the UN

5.15 The Working Group particularly targeted the UN organisations for the global introduction of IFAF. For this purpose the SAI assigned for this task, the European Court of Auditors, approached the Representatives of Internal Audit Services, which had been identified as a key player in coordinating internal audit work in the UN system and keen to promote harmonisation of working methods within the UN organisations.

5.16 After a favourable reception of the IFAF proposals in 2010 RIAS established a RIAS working group IFAF in 2011. This working Group reported to the 2012 RIAS meeting which accepted the recommendation to promote the introduction of IFAF and support its implementation as an international standard in reporting on humanitarian aid. The report produced by this working group included testing of IFAF of funds managed by UN organisations and visualised, through connecting IFAF table, what (a part of) the IFAF framework could look like. Some of the test results initiated by the RIAS working group IFAF are presented in appendix 6 of GOV 9250.

5.17 The Working Group requested the RIAS working group IFAF to obtain comments on the exposure draft of GOV 9250 from the RIAS members. The RIAS working group IFAF coordinated and provided a consolidated overview of the RIAS comments.

5.18 For more information see annex 7.

Financial accountability information requirements

5.19 To complete the overview of the financial reporting requirements that different entities involved as either aid provider or aid implementer have in humanitarian aid the Working Group analysed the financial reporting requirements that large private donors and large NGOs require of entities that receive disaster-related and humanitarian assistance. The SAI of the USA reviewed 20 US based NGOs for this purpose and selected four of these NGOs for further detailed study in relation to their 2010 revenues and contributions for humanitarian assistance. For this work a questionnaire was developed which included questions concerning IFAF as a possible way forward for the NGOs that were approached. Interviews were also held with a national accounting firm that performs external audits for charitable organisations.

5.20 Overall the organisations that were interviewed welcomed streamlining current financial reporting practices, raised concerns about the possibility to address certain items in a standardised reporting format, and underlined that donors would need incentives to adopt a standardised reporting format. Also a number of caveats were raised, which would need to be addresed in a standardised reporting format.

5.21 The results of survey and its analysis were considered in the development of GOV 9250 and are particularly relevant to increase the suitability of IFAF to the reporting needs at large NGO and aid implementing levels.

5.22 For more information see annex 8.

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6 Evaluation and way forward

Evaluation of activities and proceedings

6.1 After six years of existence, preceeded by the work of the Tsunami Task Force, the Working Group has produced the following:

5 draft ISSAIs, containing practical guidance on how to conduct audits in an area where there is often great human suffering and economic damage and means and help often come from many different sources, adding to the complexity of the challenge to auditors; an INTOSAI GOV presenting to the international community a framework for improved information on humanitarian aid flows. This framework will need to be taken forward by donors and those organisations responsible for the implementation of aid, preferably with the production of IFAF tables through IATI;

additional guidance and examples of good practice, presented in the ISSAIs or GOV developed or available at other, mostly INTOSAI sources, including in this report.

6.2 Both the ISSAIs and GOV 9250 have triggered a number of constructive comments during the exposure draft period, both from within the INTOSAI community and from other organisations7, such as the following comments on the ISSAIs:

these drafts are extremely thorough and will be of great use to supreme audit institutions once they are formally approved (United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA));

The documents are well written, structured to provide good understanding with many examples from real life, and lists of red flags for reference by SAI auditors. There is evidence that they were the result of multiple source input, good research and consultation. (Transparency International);

All 5 guidelines are clear and comprehensive. When implemented these guidelines will help to promote more effective, accountable and transparent aid delivery to affected communities (Humanitarian Accountability Partnership (HAP);

7 See for an overview of the general comments annex 9. (reference to complete overview at the PSC at issai.org ?)

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6.3 Examples of comments on the GOV are:

will be a powerful mechanism to strengthen transparency and accountability. (World Bank);

IFAF is an important tool for enhancing accountability. DG ECHO looks forward to following them

and promoting them within its partners community (European Commission);

recognises the value of IFAF. It provides audited ex-post final open data for a pre-defined

financial period using simple, standardised tables. (UN Office of Internal Oversight Services).

appreciates the time and effort spent to achieve this high quality product (UNDP);

invaluable work: IFAF implementation will bring benefits to both donors and recipients of

humanitarian aid (UN Strategy for International Risk);

applauds the intent to achieve consistency, eliminate duplication and reduce costs. (Catholic Relief Services)

6.4 The Working Group has 23 members8 most of which contributed to the ISSAIs and the GOV. At its annual meetings9 (see also par. 1.11), members have discussed work planned and progress towards achieving objectives. In addition, external speakers were invited to meetings to broaden the the discussion, for example, the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction, Ernst & Young, Transparency International, the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance, the UN Under-Secretary General and head of the UN Office of Oversight Services, and government officials of both host and donor countries.

6.5 An important element in the execution of its work was to regularly be in contact with. The Working Group contacted other INTOSAI Working Groups and Committee working on related issues such as the Working Group Environmental Auditing and the Working Group on Fight Against International Money Laundering and Corruption (topic: fraud and corruption guidelines), the Capacity Building Committee10 and regional INTOSAI groups. It also shared information on progress with the EUROSAI Working Group on the Audit of Funds related to disasters and catastrophes11. The Professional Standards Committee provided constant support to the Working Group.

8 Situation in May 2013.

9 See annex 10 for an overview of the participation in the last three meetings of the Working Group.

10 Contacts were also held with subcommittee 1 of the INTOSAI Capacity Building Committee, who produced a document on Buseiness Continuity for SAIs, which the Working Group disseminated among its members.

11 http://www.ac-rada.gov.ua/control/eurosai/en/

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6.6 In order to raise awareness of the activities of the Working Group, and specifically the draft ISSAIs and INTOSAI GOV, the chair of 12 of the Working Group addressed:

- The forum on anti-corruption in Chile in November 2011 (check proper title)

- The 15th IACC on Fraud and Corruption in Brasilia in November 2012;

- AFROSAI-E meeting in Mauritius in May 2013

- Global Platform meeting concerning Disaster Risk Reduction in Geneva in May 2013;

- Meeting of the INTOSAI Working Group on Environmental Auditing in June 2013;

6.7 However, besides success in the proceedings the Working Group has identified also a number of concerns. They primarily relate to costs, being of a financial or a human resource nature:

participation costs for delegates: particularly in the area of humanitarian aid - but this will also apply to other Working Groups aimed at capacity building - it is important to have a balanced participation in the meetings of SAIs from donor and recipient countries. The costs of taking part in meetings of INTOSAI working groups can be a serious concern to SAIs in developing countries and may impede their full participation;

the costs of chairing a Working Group: chairing a Working Group implies often not only chairing the meeting itself but also taking up the secretariat of the Working Group activities and monitoring and stimulating progress were necessary. This implies human resources costs which can be substantial when producing for example audit guidelines. In addition travel costs for the chair may be substantial, in view of representation of the Working Group in different INTOSAI forums. INTOSAI should consider providing solutions to prevent that chairmanship of Working Groups will be limited to well-endowed SAIs;

the costs of translation: normally a Working Group will limit itself to one working language, in the case of Working Group AADA English. Although this may involve work when editing for example draft ISSAIs this solution worked well. However, when producing ISSAIs the translation of these ISSAIs into the four other INTOSAI working languages falls upon the chair of the Working Group as such. 13 INTOSAI should consider a different solution for this to enable more SAIs to take up chairmanship duties within INTOSAI

12 For more information on these presentation please visit www.xxx

13 For the five ISSAIs the SAI of the chair took the costs of the translation into French, German and Spanish while ARABOSAI has been so kind to take up the translation into Arabic.

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Dissolving Working Group AADA

6.8 As indicated in par. 1.9 of this report the Working Group will present the final outcome of its work to the XXI INCOSAI. The Working Group will ask Congress to endorse the draft ISSAIs and draft GOV. Although there will be a need for follow-up work on the ISSAIs and the INTOSAI GOV, While there is a clear need for ongoing work on disaster-related and humanitarian aid, this does not warrant the continued existence of the Working Group. The chair of the Working Group will ask the XXI INCOSAI to dissolve the Working Group.

Follow up of ISSAIs

6.9 The Working Group proposes that the ISSAIs should be reviewed and presented to the XXIII INCOSAI, scheduled for 2019. The review will take account of the requirements regarding the harmonisation of ISSAIs currently being developed by the PSC. The INTOSAI Knowledge Sharing Committee (KSC), as Chair of INTOSAI Goal 3 activities, will initiate the review process with the main authors of the ISSAIs.

6.10 The website currently held by the chair and secretariat of the Working Group, the European Court of Auditors, will not be maintained. Past and future information on the activities of the Working Group and on developments in disaster-related aid auditing will be stored on a website held by the INTOSAI KSC at http://www.intosaiksc.org

6.11 INTOSAI should consider a harmonisation exercise for the draft guidelines that have been proceduced by at least three Working Groups (see par. 6.5). These guidelines will serve specific purposes but may have overlap and definition issues that would merit a holistic review.

6.12 The Working Group considers that the Working Group Environmental Auditing (WGEA) might provide the most appropriate location to host all the information currently on the website of the Working Group and which needs to remain available for users of the ISSAIs and the GOV (what about the KSC). The linkage of disaster issues to climate change is evident and disaster risk reduction often starts with environmental policies to counter climate change. The Working Group has asked the WGEA to host an open database for the collection of examples of auditing disaster-related aid from SAIs.

Follow up of GOV 9250

6.13 In INTOSAI GOV 9250 on the IFAF, INTOSAI presents a financial reporting framework, to make better financial information available as open data. It is for aid providers and organisations involved in implementing aid to take forward and implement the framework. The requirement to revise the GOV depends on the outcome of its implementation and also on the successful integration of the production of IFAF tables through IATI. Discussions on this are currently underway between the Working Group and IATI.

6.14 The KSC will take over responsibility from the Working Group for collecting new developments concerning IFAF.

6.15 Following endorsement of GOV 9250 by the XXI INCOSAI the Working Group proposes that the Chairman of the INTOSAI Governing Board, the SAI of China, send a letter to the chairs of the Good Humanitarian Donorship (GHD) - the forum in which most donor countries are represented -,

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and to the United Nations to propose that donors take the application and the further development of the IFAF forward by preparing tables themselves and require recipients of humanitarian aid to prepare them as a condition of receipt of aid.

Capacity development

6.16 The new 5500 series of ISSAIs provide useful material that may create a need on having training on how to use them. INTOSAI members are invited to present training proposals to the INTOSAI Development Initiative (IDI) to take this forward. This can lead to the organisation of training seminars and workshops on the audit of disaster-related aid, funded through the INTOSAI-Donor cooperation programme.

6.17 Other organisations that might be able to provide training assistance are the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) and UN OCHA and UNDP, for example through their specialised training center called CADRI, established to support training related to disaster risk reduction. This UN organisation also provides training to government officials and members of national platforms for disaster risk reduction.

7 Conclusion and proposal 7.1 The Working Group AADA has developed a new series of ISSAIs on auditing disaster-related aid and has presented a simple and standardised framework for preparing amd making openly available audited, ex-post, final financial data on humanitarian aid flows. Now is the time to use this material and apply the framework. By using the ISSAIs, auditors can help to raise the efficiency and effectiveness of their audit work so that their observations and recommendations contribute towards making humanitarian and disaster-related aid go further, resulting in lives saved and faster recovery from disaster.

7.2 The Working Group requests the XXI INCOSAI to endorse the new 5500 series of ISSAIs and INTOSAI GOV 9250, to take note of this Final Report of the Working Group and to disband the Working Group.

Draft FINAL REPORTof the INTOSAI Working Groupon Accountability for and Audit of Disaster-related AidApril 2013Guidance for SAIs and Proposals for Accountability arrangements in humanitarian aidSubmitted to the XXI INCOSAI, 20 26 October 2013, Beijing, ChinaCover image:Van, Turkey, October 2011 7.1 Richter Scale earthquake: A two-week old baby is pulled alive from the rubble XXXXTable of ContentsForeword1. History and mandate of the INTOSAI Working Group AADA2. Executive summaries of ISSAIs3. Audit guidanceParallel audit on disaster preparednessParallel audit on disaster-related aidOther material4. Executive summary of INTOSAI GOV 92505. AccountabilityAid transparency initiativesAccountability standards for aid organisationsHarmonization of accountability standards, financial reporting and promotion of single auditGuidance to create and review an IFAF tableIntroduction of harmonised reporting and auditing in the UN6. Evaluation and way forwardEvaluation of the activities and proceedingsDissolving the Working Group AADAFollow-up the ISSAIsFollow-up of the GOVCapacity development7. Summary and proposalAnnexesForewordBy Gijs de Vries, Chairman of the INTOSAI Working Group on Accountability for and Audit of Disaster-related Aid (AADA) and Member of the European Court of Auditors.To eradicate extreme poverty and hunger remains one of the worlds most urgent challenges. Disaster can strike at any moment and undermine national and international efforts to combat poverty, relieve suffering and build a more just world. During the ...Aid must therefore be used carefully and effectively. SAIs can provide assurance that money has been spent as intended. Through their audits SAIs can also help to raise the efficiency and effectiveness of aid. In this way, SAIs can help to save lives,...The Working Group invited comments on the draft guidance both from the INTOSAI community and from third parties. Many SAIs, but also UN organisations, the World Bank and NGOs expressed their appreciation for the quality of the guidelines presented and...The European Court of Auditors has been honoured to chair this INTOSAI Working Group for the past six years. I am grateful to the two vice-chairs of the Working Group, the Audit Board of Indonesia BPK and the Dutch Court of Audit as well as to all the...1.1 The interest of SAIs in accountability for and the audit of disaster-related aid reflects the growing interest shown by the media, disaster victims, and donors (including taxpayers) in the use of disaster-related funds. Interest turned into action...1.2 This vast amount of aid flowed from many different donors to many different recipients. Arrangements for the coordination and reporting of the aid were not in place. SAIs and other stakeholders assessed the situation and found that there was littl...1.3 In January 2005 at the meeting of the INTOSAI Finance and Administration Committee INTOSAI members discussed what INTOSAI could do to enhance accountability over tsunami aid spending. The INTOSAI Governing Board established the INTOSAI Task Fo...1.4 INCOSAI in 2007 gave the Working Group the following mandate: a) to strive for enhanced accountability and transparency of disaster-related aid, in close cooperation with relevant stakeholders, by addressing the issue of the lack of a single information structure, and b) to develop guidelines and best practices for SAIs auditing disaster-related aid.1.5 In 2010 the XX INCOSAI in South Africa commended the work being undertaken and extended the mandate by asking the Working Group to examine the usefulness of its work for the whole of humanitarian aid.1.6 Both during its first and second mandate the Working Group translated the two overall objectives into a dozen concrete tasks, half of them relating to the accountability objective and half of them aimed at developing guidelines for SAIs auditing d...1.8 The different tasks identified were divided amongst the members of the Working Group and individual work fiches per tasks were created, progress reports drafted and reported to the Working Group meetings, which were held on an annual basis since 2...1.9 At the end of its second term, the Working Group had completed its work and was in a position to present to the XXI INCOSAI in China in October 2013 the following: A new 5500 series of ISSAIs containing five ISSAIs on auditing disaster-related aid including examples of good practice provided by SAIs which were WG members or which participated in coordinated audits, surveys or widespread consultation on auditi... An INTOSAI GOV presenting the Integrated Financial Accountability Framework (the IFAF), as a framework for reporting and making publically available transparent, verified information on humanitarian aid. A final report about the work of the Working Group.1.10 Since it was established in 2008, the Working Group has had a membership of between 18 and 23 SAIs with a balance of representatives from donor and potential aid recipient countries and from a wide variety of geographical locations. 0F Membersh...1.11 Working Group meetings were held in:- Luxembourg, July 2008, hosted by the European Court of Auditors;- Seoul, June 2009, hosted by the Korean Board of Audit and Inspection;- Lima, July 2010, hosted by the Office of the Comptroller General of Peru;- Johannesburg, November 2010, within the framework of the XX INCOSAI;- Antalya, October 2011, hosted by the Turkish Court of Accounts;- Yogyakarta, June 2012, hosted by the Audit Board of Indonesia;- Valparaiso, May 2013, hosted by the Office of the Comptroller General of Chile.2 Output on audit guidance: executive summaries of ISSAIs2.1 For its objective to provide guidelines and best practices for SAIs auditing disaster-related aid the Working Group has chosen to create a new series of ISSAIs for this specific area: the 5500 series.2.2 The 5500 series of ISSAIs reflects current good practice, making reference to ISSAIs and other auditing standards, includes examples and proposes practical solutions for auditing disaster-related aid. The individual ISSAIs are closely related and ...2.3 ISSAI 5500 introduces and provides an overview of the series of ISSAIs on disaster-related aid and INTOSAI GOV 9250. ISSAIs 5510 and 5520 cover the audit of the pre- and post-disaster phases respectively. ISSAI 5530 considers the specific risks of...2.4 Figure 1 shows the link between the 5500 series of ISSAIs and the different activities of disaster-related aid across the disaster-management cycle.Figure 1: The ISSAIs and the activities of disaster-related aidSource: Prepared for WG AADA by the SAI of Indonesia2.5 Depending on the legal and regulatory framework and the mandate of the SAI, the ISSAIs on disaster-related aid can be used for audits at all levels of government: central, regional as well as local. Auditors of private entities such as NGOs receiv...Content of ISSAIs 5510 to 5540ISSAI 55102.6 ISSAI 5510 on auditing disaster risk reduction recognises the increasing emphasis by governments and international organisations on the risk of disasters and on reducing their potential impact through adequate preparation. It focuses on the pre-di...2.7 ISSAI 5510 is structured as follows:Part 1 defines disasters, disaster management and disaster risk reduction and explores the political and operational context of auditing disaster risk reduction. Part 2 explores the issues SAIs are faced with when planning or conducting an audit of d...2.8 The SAI of Turkey led the preparation of ISSAI 5510. It consulted with SAIs and other organisations across the world, carried out surveys and coordinated an audit of disaster risk reduction (see also section 3).2F ISSAI 55202.9 ISSAI 5520 on auditing disaster-related aid takes account of the notable features of post-disaster activity, which include large amounts of resources flowing into disaster-affected areas, where there is pressure to deliver aid rapidly to individua...2.10 ISSAI 5520 is structured as follows:Part 1 defines disaster and the different phases of disaster management.Part 2 defines disaster-related aid and key players and features of disaster-related aid and develops a matrix of the key topics and risks in the management of disaster-related aid.Part 3 highlights aspects of the audit process illustrated by the experiences of SAIs which have audited disaster-related aid: cooperation between auditors, information and data gathering, selection of audit topics, financial, performance and complian...2.11 The SAI of Indonesia led the preparation of ISSAI 5520. It consulted with SAIs and other organisations across the world, carried out surveys and coordinated an audit of disaster-related aid (see also.3F )ISSAI 55302.12 ISSAI 5530 on adapting audit procedures to take account of the increased risk of fraud and corruption in the emergency phase following a disaster has been prepared to assist auditors in addressing the risk of fraud and corruption following a disa...2.13 ISSAI 5530 is structured as follows:Part 1 defines terms and the role of SAIs.Part 2 refers auditors to the guidance available and the challenges raised by the risk of fraud and corruption in disaster-related aid.Part 3 brings together and illustrates the relevant risks and indicators...2.14 The SAI of the European Union led the preparation of ISSAI 5530. It includes examples provided by SAIs and other organisations across the world.ISSAI 55402.15 ISSAI 5540 presents the use of geospatial information and Geographical Information Systems (GIS) as tools for managers and auditors of disaster-related aid across the disaster management cycle. In addition to providing best practice and guidance ...2.16 ISSAI 5540 is structured as follows:Part 1 introduces GIS.Part 2 presents the specific characteristics of GIS (types, sources and quality issues) and describes how GIS can help in analysing geospatial information and how this is done in the public sector.Part 3 describes the use of ge...2.17 The SAI of the Netherlands led the preparation of ISSAI 5540. It was assisted in this by experts in the field.2.18 The 5500 series of ISSAIs on disaster-related aid are published by INTOSAI on the website of the Professional Standards Committee.4F3 Additional output on audit guidanceParallel audit on disaster preparedness3.1 In order to present audit guidance that was practical and illustrated with examples one of the tasks identified by the Working Group was to organise a parallel audit on the audit of disaster preparedness or also called disaster risk reduction. The...3.2 Ten SAIs participated in the parallel audit, which had a broad scope of possible topics that SAIs could include, main criteria being that it related to disaster preparedness (Arife explicitly uses this instead of disaster risk reduction) and that ...3.3 Three meetings were organised between the participating SAIs, and during the last meeting, held in February 2013, individual audit results were presented and common ways for reporting, also by means of a joint report, were discussed. This joint re...3.4 Participating SAIs could use their own audit questions and criteria, although some SAIs used common questions and criteria. Different types of audits were conducted, ranging from compliance to performance audits. This was considered useful to show...3.5 The parallel audit effort led to:- testing and improving the contents of ISSAI 5510 and providing concrete examples regarding the application of the guidelines presented. Experiences that could not be included in the endorsement version prepared for the XXI INCOSAI will be used for t...- the publication of several audit reports on disaster preparedness and a joint report. This joint report can be used by SAIs as reference material when deciding about their own audits in this area;- establishment and collection of training material, based on the experiences of the parallel audit;- a lessons learned paper will be drawn up, reflecting the parallel audit experiences and recommendations that can provide feedback for ISSAI 5000 on Principles for Best Audit Arrangements for International Institutions and Guide for Cooperative Audit...3.6 More details concerning this parallel audit can be found in annex 1.Parallel audit/survey on disaster-related aid3.7 In preparation of the audit guidelines on disaster-related aid the SAI of Indonesia, the Audit Board of Indonesia (BPK), conducted two surveys.3.8 The BPK organised the first survey from October 2009 to January 2010 with the objective to gather data and information on SAIs mandate and experience for the audit of disaster-related aid. In Total 35 SAIs participated in the survey, respondents ...3.9 The BPK organised a second survey in early 2012 towards selected SAIs with the objective to enhance the usefulness of the guidance drafted and obtain feedback concerning the audit design matrix. Five SAIs replied and the feedback was useful to imp...3.10 In 2012 the BPK initiated a parallel audit to test and provide feedback on the draft ISSAI 5520, including the audit design matrix presented there, to share experiences in auditing the rehabilitation and reconstruction phase, and to develop a les...3.11 For more information see annex 2.Other material3.12 To provide practical and concrete examples summaries of audit work done by the SAIs of Peru, China, Japan, the European Court of Auditors, India, the USA and Indonesia have been made and are presented as appendix 6 to 12 in ISSAI 5520. This ISSAI...4 Output on accountability: executive summary of INTOSAI GOV 92504.1 The transparency of and accountability for humanitarian aid has become an issue of considerable importance for donors and other stakeholders in recent years. Supreme Audit Institutions are well-positioned to promote accountability and transparency...4.2 To meet the need thus identified by SAIs, the Working Group on Accountability for and the Audit of Disaster-related Aid has prepared INTOSAI-GOV 9250, which presents the Integrated Financial Accountability Framework (IFAF). The IFAF is a framework...4.3 IFAF tables in a nutshell Each entity required to report on transfers of humanitarian aid prepares an IFAF table. IFAF tables are made publicly available. The aid can be financial or in-kind (expressed in its equivalent monetary value). IFAF tables include transfers of aid into and out of the entity preparing the IFAF table (not pledges or accrued expenditure) in the calendar year ending 31 December *. The currency for IFAF tables is US Dollars (USD) *. The language of IFAF tables is English *. When preparing IFAF tables, entities respect the same rules as those applied for drawing up their financial statements. The data for preparing IFAF tables is the same as that used for preparing the entities financial statements. The external auditor of the entity audits the IFAF table and provides a statement to this effect.

(*) These requirements are important for IFAF tables to be comparable. Solutions are under development for entities not using the 31 December as the ...4.4 IFAF tables have been tested by a variety of donors and recipients of humanitarian aid. These tests have been successful: organisations have found it easy to prepare IFAF tables using data already existing in their financial systems. Furthermore t...4.5 Optimum use of IFAF tables requires that they should be available as open data. There are many open data intiatives working towards meeting the goal of aid effectiveness through the availability of better information. Discussions are currently und...4.6 The main role in implementing and developing the IFAF necessarily falls to donors which can prepare IFAF tables themselves and ask recipients of humanitarian aid to report in this way. Donors can support the inclusion of the IFAF tables in an appr...4.7 More information about IFAF is provided in INTOSAI GOV 9250.5F5 Additional output on accountabilityAid transparency initiatives5.1 To make an inventory on what kind of aid transparency intiatives could be used to for a basis for the harmonisation of accountability standards the SAI of Korea made an inventory of the transparency initiatives available. The conclusion was that t...5.2 During its second mandate the SAI of Korea, with the aid of the European Court of Auditors, analysed what lessons could be learned from the experiences could be learned from aid transparency initiatives, and particularly the International Aid Tran...5.3 For more information see annex 3.Accountability standards for aid organisations5.4 Since for emergency aid donors tend to prefer to work with organisations which have a proven record, also as financial accountability is concerned, the Working Group searched for initiatives that set out accountability standards particularly for n...5.5 On behalf of the Working Group the European Court of Auditors advised HAP in updating its HAP Standard, with particular advice concerning internal control systems and improved financial accountability. HAP welcomed IFAF as a financial reporting mo...5.6 For more information see annex 4.Harmonisation of accountability standards, financial reporting and promotion of single audit5.7 To promote accountability standards the Working Group has targeted the providers of humanitarian aid, and in particular public donors, as important stakeholders to implement harmonised accountability standards and reporting, for which IFAF is deve...5.8 Prior to the development of IFAF the Working Group (SAI of Norway and the European Court of Auditors) analysed the extent to which OECD/DAC guidelines Harmonising Donor Practices for Effective Aid Delivery? Can be used as a basis for harmonised f...5.9 To test IFAF the Working Group approached donors, intermediary organisations (particularly in the UN) and aid organisations to draft IFAF tables. Results of their efforts are reflected as examples of pilot IFAF tables in appendix 6 of GOV 9250.5.10 The Working Group also explored ways in which the audit of IFAF table by the external auditor of the entity producing the IFAF table can help to collaborate with other auditors and decrease the overall audit costs. The SAI of Norway has developed...5.11 For more information see annex 5.Guidance material for the creation and the review of an IFAF table5.12 Within the Working Group task of development of audit guidelines for private auditors of aid organisations the SAI of Chile has made a guide for producing and IFAF table, this in cooperation with the aid organisation Un techo Para Chile that volu...5.13 The SAI of Chile developed, in cooperation with private audit firms an audit guide for reviewing an IFAF table. The guide was tested through a pilot audit on the IFAF table produced by the NGO Un Techo Para Chile. The audit guide distinguishes th...5.14 See for more information annex 6Introduction of Harmonised reporting and auditing in the UN5.15 The Working Group particularly targeted the UN organisations for the global introduction of IFAF. For this purpose the SAI assigned for this task, the European Court of Auditors, approached the Representatives of Internal Audit Services, which ha...5.16 After a favourable reception of the IFAF proposals in 2010 RIAS established a RIAS working group IFAF in 2011. This working Group reported to the 2012 RIAS meeting which accepted the recommendation to promote the introduction of IFAF and support ...5.17 The Working Group requested the RIAS working group IFAF to obtain comments on the exposure draft of GOV 9250 from the RIAS members. The RIAS working group IFAF coordinated and provided a consolidated overview of the RIAS comments.5.18 For more information see annex 7.Financial accountability information requirements5.19 To complete the overview of the financial reporting requirements that different entities involved as either aid provider or aid implementer have in humanitarian aid the Working Group analysed the financial reporting requirements that large privat...5.20 Overall the organisations that were interviewed welcomed streamlining current financial reporting practices, raised concerns about the possibility to address certain items in a standardised reporting format, and underlined that donors would need ...5.21 The results of survey and its analysis were considered in the development of GOV 9250 and are particularly relevant to increase the suitability of IFAF to the reporting needs at large NGO and aid implementing levels.5.22 For more information see annex 8.6 Evaluation and way forwardEvaluation of activities and proceedings6.1 After six years of existence, preceeded by the work of the Tsunami Task Force, the Working Group has produced the following: an INTOSAI GOV presenting to the international community a framework for improved information on humanitarian aid flows. This framework will need to be taken forward by donors and those organisations responsible for the implementation of aid, prefer... additional guidance and examples of good practice, presented in the ISSAIs or GOV developed or available at other, mostly INTOSAI sources, including in this report.6.2 Both the ISSAIs and GOV 9250 have triggered a number of constructive comments during the exposure draft period, both from within the INTOSAI community and from other organisations6F , such as the following comments on the ISSAIs: these drafts are extremely thorough and will be of great use to supreme audit institutions once they are formally approved (United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)); The documents are well written, structured to provide good understanding with many examples from real life, and lists of red flags for reference by SAI auditors. There is evidence that they were the result of multiple source input, good research an... All 5 guidelines are clear and comprehensive. When implemented these guidelines will help to promote more effective, accountable and transparent aid delivery to affected communities (Humanitarian Accountability Partnership (HAP);6.3 Examples of comments on the GOV are: will be a powerful mechanism to strengthen transparency and accountability. (World Bank); IFAF is an important tool for enhancing accountability. DG ECHO looks forward to following them and promoting them within its partners community (European Commission); recognises the value of IFAF. It provides audited ex-post final open data for a pre-defined financial period using simple, standardised tables. (UN Office of Internal Oversight Services). appreciates the time and effort spent to achieve this high quality product (UNDP); invaluable work: IFAF implementation will bring benefits to both donors and recipients of humanitarian aid (UN Strategy for International Risk); applauds the intent to achieve consistency, eliminate duplication and reduce costs. (Catholic Relief Services)6.4 The Working Group has 23 members7F most of which contributed to the ISSAIs and the GOV. At its annual meetings8F (see also par. 1.11), members have discussed work planned and progress towards achieving objectives. In addition, external speakers ...6.5 An important element in the execution of its work was to regularly be in contact with. The Working Group contacted other INTOSAI Working Groups and Committee working on related issues such as the Working Group Environmental Auditing and the Workin...6.6 In order to raise awareness of the activities of the Working Group, and specifically the draft ISSAIs and INTOSAI GOV, the chair of 11F of the Working Group addressed:- The forum on anti-corruption in Chile in November 2011 (check proper title)- The 15th IACC on Fraud and Corruption in Brasilia in November 2012;- AFROSAI-E meeting in Mauritius in May 2013- Global Platform meeting concerning Disaster Risk Reduction in Geneva in May 2013;- Meeting of the INTOSAI Working Group on Environmental Auditing in June 2013;6.7 However, besides success in the proceedings the Working Group has identified also a number of concerns. They primarily relate to costs, being of a financial or a human resource nature: participation costs for delegates: particularly in the area of humanitarian aid - but this will also apply to other Working Groups aimed at capacity building - it is important to have a balanced participation in the meetings of SAIs from donor and r... the costs of chairing a Working Group: chairing a Working Group implies often not only chairing the meeting itself but also taking up the secretariat of the Working Group activities and monitoring and stimulating progress were necessary. This implie... the costs of translation: normally a Working Group will limit itself to one working language, in the case of Working Group AADA English. Although this may involve work when editing for example draft ISSAIs this solution worked well. However, when pr...Dissolving Working Group AADA6.8 As indicated in par. 1.9 of this report the Working Group will present the final outcome of its work to the XXI INCOSAI. The Working Group will ask Congress to endorse the draft ISSAIs and draft GOV. Although there will be a need for follow-up wor...Follow up of ISSAIs6.9 The Working Group proposes that the ISSAIs should be reviewed and presented to the XXIII INCOSAI, scheduled for 2019. The review will take account of the requirements regarding the harmonisation of ISSAIs currently being developed by the PSC. The ...6.10 The website currently held by the chair and secretariat of the Working Group, the European Court of Auditors, will not be maintained. Past and future information on the activities of the Working Group and on developments in disaster-related aid a...6.11 INTOSAI should consider a harmonisation exercise for the draft guidelines that have been proceduced by at least three Working Groups (see par. 6.5). These guidelines will serve specific purposes but may have overlap and definition issues that wou...6.12 The Working Group considers that the Working Group Environmental Auditing (WGEA) might provide the most appropriate location to host all the information currently on the website of the Working Group and which needs to remain available for users o...Follow up of GOV 92506.13 In INTOSAI GOV 9250 on the IFAF, INTOSAI presents a financial reporting framework, to make better financial information available as open data. It is for aid providers and organisations involved in implementing aid to take forward and implement t...6.14 The KSC will take over responsibility from the Working Group for collecting new developments concerning IFAF.6.15 Following endorsement of GOV 9250 by the XXI INCOSAI the Working Group proposes that the Chairman of the INTOSAI Governing Board, the SAI of China, send a letter to the chairs of the Good Humanitarian Donorship (GHD) - the forum in which most don...Capacity development6.16 The new 5500 series of ISSAIs provide useful material that may create a need on having training on how to use them. INTOSAI members are invited to present training proposals to the INTOSAI Development Initiative (IDI) to take this forward. This c...6.17 Other organisations that might be able to provide training assistance are the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) and UN OCHA and UNDP, for example through their specialised training center called CADRI, established to support training...7 Conclusion and proposal7.1 The Working Group AADA has developed a new series of ISSAIs on auditing disaster-related aid and has presented a simple and standardised framework for preparing amd making openly available audited, ex-post, final financial data on humanitarian aid...7.2 The Working Group requests the XXI INCOSAI to endorse the new 5500 series of ISSAIs and INTOSAI GOV 9250, to take note of this Final Report of the Working Group and to disband the Working Group.