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2015 United Nations Public Service
Forum
The role of Supreme Audit Institutions
in promoting transparency and
accountability to contribute to the
implementation of the Post-2015
Development Agenda
Silke Steiner,
INTOSAI General Secretariat
1
Importance of transparency and
accoutability (1)
Why are transparency and accountability so
important for the implementation of the SDGs?
Experiences with regard to the MDGs have
shown that their implementation can only
succeed if accountability and transparency are
in place.
Only if there is accountable and transparent
governance with citizens more involved
monitoring and impact evaluation is more
cost effective
Transparency and accountability:
Role of Supreme Audit
Institutions
Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) can
essentially contribute to an efficient
monitoring and review process with regard to
the resources at hand
how these resources are used,
by whom and
in what way
Shortcomings in the
implementation of the MDGs
However, the implementation of the MDGs
shows that the main weaknesses are
Shortcomings in governance and capacity in
public administration:
Lack of transparency
Lack of accountability
Lack of ownership
Role of SAIs in strengthening
capacities for Sustainable
Development
In order to reduce these weaknesses, INTOSAI and
SAIs around the globe are very much interested and
committed to
contributing to sustainable development and to
delivering their know-how in this regard
Only strong, independent SAIs at the national level
are in the position to strengthen transparency and
accountability and thereby provide the basis for the
implementation of the SDGs
Recognition of the important
contribution of SAIs by the UN
(1)
The important role of SAIs in promoting
transparency and accountability for sustainable
development has already repeatedly been
recognized by the UN:
Call of UN SG Ban Ki-moon for
transparency and accountability in the context
of the Post-2015 Development Agenda and
the necessity of strengthening SAIs (and
oversight functions by legislature) (Synthesis
Report December 2014)
Recognition of the important
contribution of SAIs by the UN
(2)
UN GA Resolutions 66/209 and 69/228:
Acknowledgement of the UN and its Member
States of
the important role of SAIs in promoting the
efficiency, accountability, effectiveness and
transparency of public administration, which is
conducive to the achievement of internationally
agreed development goals
the role of SAIs in fostering governmental
accountability for the use of resources and their
performance in achieving development goals
Obstacles for SAIs to be
removed
Lack of a comprehensive mandate to audit
government performance
• Example: Legal limitation of SAIs to financial audits.
Lack of possibilities to provide a formal audit
opinion on government accounts
• Example: Shortcomings of rules for accounting
Obstacles with regard to disseminating and
publishing audit work
• Example: Not all SAIs are legally in the position to
report publicly on their audit findings
9
However: In order to fully unfold their potential
in creating transparency and accountability, SAIs
have to
be legally, financially and organizationally
independent from governments as audited
authorities
have a comprehensive mandate to audit
government performance
be able to disseminate and publish their audit
results
Slide 10
Necessary prerequisites for
SAIs
Necessary measures:
independent
SAIs must be fully independent
in order to make government actions concerning
sustainable development more transparent and
accountable by
• independent and objective information provided to
the executive and to Parliaments and
• by publicly available reports and public discussions
Slide 11
Necessary measures:
capacity building
SAIs need the to have the necessary capacity to be
able to fully unfold their potential with regard to the
SDGs
Special importance of performance audits, which
are revealing information on
efficiency, effectiveness and economy
of all areas of government action
12
Performance audits
By performance audits, SAIs can provide reliable
information literally on all areas covered by the
current draft SDGs, e.g.
• poverty and hunger reduction
health care
education
availability of water and sanitation management
energy and infrastructure policy
climate change
good governance
Performance audits:
The example of Ghana
The SAI of Ghana has conducted a number of
performance audits in areas related to
development goals, which included:
• Audits of water provision to rural communities – the
audit resulted in a World Bank intervening and assisting
with the completion of projects that had come to a halt
• Protection of the ecosystem – this audit gave rise to
parliamentary intervention
• Physical infrastructure - led to increase in market
centres and the establishment of health posts and
primary schools
14
Necessary measures:
Improvement of public
accounting systems
It is necessary to improve and harmonize the public
accounting systems and modernize the budgeting
processes, for example by accrual accounting, in
terms of outcome-oriented budgeting in order to
• have a more true and fair view of the state
budgets and in order to
• be able to measure the real outcome of policy
measures / government actions
15
True and fair view of public
finances:
The example of Austria
In Austria true and fair view is a constitutional
principle as of 2013 at the central government
level.
Therefore, Austria’s annual budgets now
contain a cash flow and an operating
statement.
Since its introduction in Austria, accrual
accounting has greatly enhanced the value of
financial statements, including disclosure of
key risks to fiscal sustainability.
16
How strengthened SAIs can
contribute to transparency and
accountability
Only with these preconditions in place SAIs can
enhance transparency and accountability by
financial audits: giving insight into the financial
situation of the state
compliance audits: making irregularities visible
performance audits: revealing information on
efficiency, effectiveness and economy of all areas of
government action
How strengthened SAIs can
contribute to sustainable
development
Thus, SAIs substantially contribute to
a monitoring mechanism related to the
implementation of development goals at the
national level and
safeguarding financial sustainability for
development by creating the necessary
transparency and holding responsible parties
accountable
INTOSAI initiatives and
measures
INTOSAI and its member SAIs are well aware of
their important role and the major contributions
they can make to the monitoring and
assessment of the SDGs in each nation as well
as globally
Through their audits, SAIs can contribute
fundamentally to sustainable development by
“building effective, accountable and inclusive
institutions at all levels” (proposed SDG goal 16)
Therefore, a series of activities are already
going on in INTOSAI, such as:
19
23rd
UN/INTOSAI Symposium (1)
20
23rd UN/INTOSAI Symposium, 2 to 4 March 2015, Vienna, Austria
Theme:
UN Post-2015 Development Agenda: The Role of SAIs and Means of Implementation for Sustainable
Development
23rd
UN/INTOSAI Symposium (2)
Representatives of UN DESA, INTOSAI,
participating SAIs as well as the representatives of
stakeholders provided their experiences and
adopted conclusions on
Expectations in SAIs by the development partners
regarding sustainable development
Prerequisites and
Possibilities for SAIs to effectively engage in the
Post-2015 Development Agenda
The participants suggest that the INTOSAI
community can contribute to the monitoring of the
SDG process by, inter alia:
21
23rd
UN/INTOSAI Symposium
Conclusions
• providing practical recommendations for the
establishment and of new systems for monitoring
and evaluating the SDGs
• considering the preparation of an INTOSAI annual
summary of audit findings on the SDG monitoring
systems
• joint or collaborative audits to assist in improving
the strength of national policies and to strengthen
SAI’s capacity to audit the SDGs
22
INTOSAI Knowledge Sharing
Committee (KSC)
In cooperation with the INTOSAI Development
Initiative (IDI), the KSC has launched an initiative to
start with a Community of Practice on the SDGs
A Project Team will be constituted to develop Audit
Guidelines for reviewing the preparedness of
countries for implementing the SDG
Cooperative audits on auditing preparedness for
implementing the SDGs will be conducted
Member SAIs can later take up audit of preparedness
of their countries based on the guidelines
23
INTOSAI Congress (INCOSAI)
2016 (2)
• Theme I of the coming XXII INOCSAI (2016)
will be
• “How INTOSAI can contribute to the UN post
2015 agenda including good governance in
order to strengthen the fight against
corruption?
25
INTOSAI Congress (INCOSAI)
2016 (3)
In this context, there are already several
initiatives going on, e.g.:
Proposal of an INTOSAI SDG Audit-based
Review (ISAR)
It will focus on the lessons learned from the
MDGs and the implications for the
implementation of the SDGs
26
INTOSAI Strategic Plan 201
Monitoring and assessment of the Sustainable
Development Goals within the context of each
SAI's audit mandates = one of the five main
priorities of the INTOSAI Strategic Plan 2017-
2022
The INTOSAI Task Force on Strategic Planning
has started an initiative to investigate on and
coordinate the different ongoing initiatives in
INTOSAI regarding the SDGs
27
INTOSAI Task Force on
Strategic Planning
Questions to be tackled:
Analysis of the capabilities governments need to
meet
What has INTOSAI already done to audit those
needed capacities?
Where are still gaps?
What should INTOSAI further develop to support
knowledge sharing and SAI capacity development
on the specific capabilities governments need to
support sustainable development?
28
Conclusion (1)
SAIs can help to avoid the mistakes from the
past by creating more accountability and
transparency as well as national ownership
SAIs play an important role in promoting good
governance at all levels by ensuring
efficiency, accountability, effectiveness and
transparency
By providing independent oversight
mechanisms, SAIs can essentially contribute
to the implementation of the Post-2015
Development Agenda
29
Conclusion (2)
Strengthened SAIs, which play an active role in the
implementation of the Sustainable Development
Goals, can be of mutual benefit to all of us
We therefore ask all of you for your active support in
strengthening the role of SAIs through the inclusion
of
• independence of SAIs,
• capacity building of SAIs and the
• improvement of accounting systems
as essential elements in the Post-2015 Development
Agenda
30