COORDINATED AUDIT ON SOCIAL HOUSING

Report ID: 300

Given the unquestionable social and economic importance of social housing in the region, under the framework of the OLACEFS Public Works Audit Working Group (GTOP) a coordinated audit was conducted on this topic. The SAIs of Argentina, Brazil (Audit Coordinator), Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Honduras, Mexico, Paraguay and the Dominican Republic participated in the audit, which had the support of GIZ.

The purpose of the audit was to verify whether social housing policies and construction projects in each participating country were in line with all the aspects and recommendations that the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE/UN) put forward in the document entitled Guidelines on Social Housing – Principles and Examples (2006), which is considered essential for determining if housing is adequate and also whether the quantitative goals set for building housing units were defined and are being met.

Source: https://www.olacefs.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Resumen-Ejecutivo-ENGLISH-final-AC-viviendas.pdf

Report on the Coordinated Audit on Tax Subsidies (in Russian)

Report ID: 397

The VI EUROSAI Congress held in Bonn from 30 May to 2 June 2005 dealt with the audit of public revenues by Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs).The analysis of the country papers submitted by EUROSAI’s members prior to the congress showed, among others,  that there was still  insufficient knowledge about the effectiveness of tax subsidies, noted the extent and complexity of tax legislation that can lead to tax shortfalls and tax exceptions and concluded that SAIs should develop more reliable findings about the volume and target achievement of such tax subsidies.

The Congress therefore advocated conducting a coordinated audit of tax subsidies that was open to all EUROSAI members. For that purpose, a Working Group was set up to coordinate the planning of the audit and to establish the contents and headings of it.

The Supreme Audit Institutions of Germany, Cyprus, Denmark, France, Finland, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Russian Federation, Sweden, Switzerland, Slovak Republic, United Kingdom and Netherlands (observer) participated in the audit.

The objectives of the coordinated audit were:

• Enhancing the sharing of knowledge,
• Enhancing communication between EUROSAI Members in areas of special interest,
• Obtaining best practice information,
• Strengthening informal networks,

To obtain comparable results, a checklist was drafted that addressed all stages of a tax subsidy from legislation via implementation up to reporting. At the same time, this checklist formed the non-binding framework for an audit of transparency and reporting. Furthermore, three Working Sub-Groups were set up to deal with specific tax subsidies: Corporate Income Tax , Value Added Tax and Transparency and Subsidy Report.

After completing audit work, the Working Group came to the conclusion that, concerning tax subsidies, improvements were needed in the fields of legislation, evaluation and reporting in all participant states in order to create the overall transparency which it considered necessary both for the legislator and the general public.

SOURCE: https://www.eurosai.org/en/working-groups/historic-working-groups-committees/coordinated-audit-on-tax-subsidies-working-group/index.html

*This report is also available in the catalogue in English, Spanish, German and French.

The AFROSAI 2017/18 Coordinated Audit on Corruption as a driver of Illicit Financial Flows

Report ID: 234

In 2017, members of the AFROSAI from South Africa, Senegal, Togo, Tanzania, Kenya, Niger, Uganda, Sierra Leone, Zimbabwe, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire and Liberia undertook a coordinated audit, focusing on corruption as a driver of Illicit Financial Flows, especially on Asset Declaration and Public Procurement Systems which was completed in April 2018. 

On the topic of Asset Declaration Systems, the audit revealed that:

• Systems have been put in place in all but one country, but they differ substantially.
• There is a need to revisit the regulatory frameworks.
• The sanction regime needs to be strengthened and fully applied.
• In most countries, the verification of declarations needs to be urgently improved.
• Public accessibility of declarations needs to be reconsidered.

On the topic of Asset Declaration Systems, the audit revealed that:

• Systems have been put in place in all countries with regulatory frameworks that provide for transparency.
• Public procurement systems need to deliver on competitiveness and efficiency.
• Conflicts of interest in public procurement need to be better managed.
• Inclusion of procurement officials in asset declaration regimes is essential.
• Corruption reporting mechanisms need to be made fully operational.
• Oversight over procurement, including follow up and sanctions, must be strengthened.
• Capacity for implementation of procurement laws and regulations is weak.

The overall conclusion of the AFROSAI 2017/18 Coordinated Audit on Corruption as a driver of Illicit Financial Flows:

• The Governments audited have made substantial progress in putting the asset declaration and procurement systems required by AUCPCC and UNCAC in place. It is now imperative to improve their operations.
• As an overarching finding, it is imperative to strengthen the controls of these systems, whether it is the verification of asset declarations, the procurement audits by oversight bodies or the control of declarations of conflict of interest in procurement. These controls combined with adequate sanction regimes must be put in place to prevent impunity.
• Supreme Audit Institutions are essential actors in providing recommendations for improving these and other public finance systems. Their role in national governance systems should therefore be strengthened.

Pacific Regional Report of the Cooperative Performance Audit: Managing Sustainable Fisheries

Report ID: 237

This report provides a regional overview of the process and outcomes of the third Cooperative Performance Audit in the Pacific region. At the aggregate level, it reports the significant findings about managing sustainable fisheries (in particular the tuna fishery) in the nine Pacific island countries, which were the focus of the audit. The report also records the achievements against Pacific Regional Audit Initiative (PRAI) objectives, including building performance auditing capacity within PASAI.

Nine PASAI member audit offices took part in the audit: PICT 1, the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), Fiji, PICT 2, Palau, Samoa, the Solomon Islands, Tonga and Tuvalu. Owing to confidentiality reasons, the reports of two SAIs are not identified in this regional report, as they have not yet been made public within their jurisdictions. As a result, these Pacific island states are referred to as Pacific Island Country and Territory (PICT) - PICT 1 and 2. Of the SAIs participating in the third cooperative audit, the majority had participated in either the first or the second cooperative audit. The Solomon Islands SAI was new to the cooperative performance audit approach.

Key Findings

The main findings from each of the three lines of enquiry are presented below:

1. The overall finding for the first line of enquiry is that, while government objectives are set out in legislation, these objectives need to be reflected in sector planning arrangements.
2. The overall finding for the second line of enquiry is that, while there have been important sub-regional developments, it is difficult to provide assurance that economic returns to the Pacific island states involved in this audit, are uniformly fair and reasonable.
3. The overall finding for the third line of enquiry is that the accuracy of fishery data collection and analysis procedures as the basis for good decision making are less than optimal.

Report of the Coordinated Pacific Region Performance Audit: Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Risk Reduction Strategies and Management

Report ID: 238

The countries of the Pacific are among the most vulnerable to the effects of climate change. Rising sea levels, cyclones, tsunamis, food security, and coastal erosion are real and daily threats. Pacific governments also face challenges in recovering from natural disasters and extreme weather events.

In response to these threats and challenges, PASAI Auditors-General undertook a Cooperative Performance Audit on climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction strategies and management.

Ten SAIs from eight Pacific Island states participated in the audit: Cook Islands, Federated States of

Micronesia (FSM), the FSM State of Kosrae, the FSM State of Pohnpei, Fiji, Palau, Samoa, Tuvalu and two other Pacific Island Countries and Territories (PICTs). In line with the practice of previous regional overview reports, participating SAIs that have not yet released their audit reports are referred to anonymously — in this instance as PICT 1 and PICT 2.

Key findings

Audit findings from the eight published audit reports clustered around the following key performance themes:

governance arrangements, including legal and policy frameworks, mainstreaming, vulnerability assessments and strategy development, and coordination between responsible agencies

project implementation, including project-level governance—coordination and project management, financing and human resource capacity constraints

monitoring and reporting.