The Internal Quality Control System at the Office of the Auditor General of

Norway

Deputy Director General Øivind Berg LarsenThe Office of the Auditor General of Norway

Internal Quality Control

• Why• How• Lessons learned

The Board of Auditors general

Secretary General Legal secretariat

Department I

(Financial audit)

Ministries of:Finance,

Government

Administration and Reform,

Culture and Church Affairs

Department II

(Financial audit)

Ministries of:Defence

Fisheries and Coastal Affaires,

Agriculture and Food,

Environment,

Petroleum and Energy,

Transport and Communication

Department III

(Financial audit)

Ministries of:Justice and the Police,

Education and Research

Local Government and Regional

Development,

Trade and Industry,

Foreign Affairs

Department IV

(Financial audit)

Methodology

Ministries of:Labour and Social Inclusion,

Children and Equality,

Health and

Care Services

Performance Audit Dep I

Methodology development and advice,

Government-wide policies

Corporate control

Ministries of:

Labour and Social Inclusion,

Government Administration and Reform,

Health and care Services,

Local Government and Regional Development,

Trade and Industry

Performance Audit Dep II

Ministries of:

Finance,

Fisheries and Coastal Affairs

Defence,

Culture and Church Affaires,

Education and Research,

Agriculture and Food,

Environment,

Petroleum and Energy,

Transport and Communications,

Foreign Affairs

Administration

Responsibility:

ICT,

Internal

administration and finance,

Information and documentation,

International cooperation,

Personnel

Auditor General

Different control regimes for

• Financial audits (since 2000)

• Performance audits (once only)

• Corporate control (once only)

The Objectives of Internal Quality Control

• High quality audits• Consistent use of standards• Effective use of resources• Provide an arena for learning

• For those being subject to control• For those performing the control

Common to all Quality Control at the OAG

• QC is not part of day to day Quality Assurance• QC is performed after an audit opinion has been

formed and sent to the audited body or Parliament• QC is performed by personnel from a different

department to the one being controlled• All sections are subject to QC approximately once

every four years• The report from the QC team is sent for comments to

the section being scrutinised • The report is reviewed by the Top Management

Team and is referred to the Board of Auditors General

The Quality Control process will verify that

• Quality assurance is performed and documented

• Personnel are allocated to the assignments in an effective way and according to the priority of the audit

• Communication between the audited body and the audit team has been timely and correct

• All findings and conclusions are documented and can be reproduced for verification purposes

Specific for QC in Financial Audits

• The Audit program follows logically from the Strategic Analysis

• That the Audit Program has been performed and documented as planned

Conclusions of the QC:• Acceptable• Lacking in part • Mismatch between findings and conclusions

Main findings – Financial audit of 2006

• Use of new methodology is acceptable • In some controlled audits it is difficult to trace

the flow of logic from material risks defined to the audit report

• The use of the support tool (Prosit) varies• Internal quality assurance are not always

adequately documented

Specific for QC in Performance Audits

Checklists /structured interviews on• Design• Processes• Products• Communications

Findings: All acceptable, but with room for improvements in Communications

???