The Pacific Regional Report of the Cooperative Audit of Preparedness for Implementation of Sustainable Development Goals

Report ID: 338

In 2016, 73 SAIs and one sub-national audit office from six INTOSAI regions compromised to participate in an ISSAI-based cooperative performance audit of preparedness for implementation of the (SDGs). The purpose of the cooperative performance audit was to highlight the ongoing relevance of SAIs, by their contribution through high-quality performance audits of country preparedness to implement the SDGs.

In PASAI, 13 SAIs participated in the cooperative audit – Cook Islands, Fiji, Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) National, FSM Pohnpei, FSM Kosrae, FSM Yap,Kiribati, Palau, PNG, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, and Tuvalu. This audit was led by the FSM National Public Auditor’s office in combination with the state SAIs of Kosrae, Pohnpei, and Yap. Because the Public Auditor’s office in the State of Chuuk was in transition, the national office also assessed preparedness in the State of Chuuk. As a result, there was one consolidated audit report that reported on the administrative preparedness to implement the SDGs at the national level plus at the state and local levels.

The cooperative audit was based on a Whole of Government approach. This implies that any audit of the implementation of an individual SDG goal or target will also need to look at its interconnections with other goals and targets.

The SAIs followed the Guidance on Auditing Preparedness developed by UN, the INTOSAI Knowledge Sharing Committee and IDI and during the audit covered the following key audit objectives:

• To what extent has the government adapted the 2030 Agenda into its national context?
• Has the government identified and secured resources and capacities (means of implementation) needed to implement the 2030 Agenda?
• Has the Government established a mechanism to monitor, follow-up, review and report on the progress towards the implementation of the SDGs?

This audit was supported by PASAI by joining with IDI to facilitate the planning and reporting meetings and provided dedicated on-site support to audit teams where required. The report contains lessons learnt from the audit.

Source: https://www.pasai.org/cooperative-performance-audit-reports

Joint audit report Implementation of the Operational Programme Cross-Border Cooperation Republic of Poland – Slovak Republic 2007–2013

Report ID: 341

On 20 December 2007 the European Commission, by means of the decision No C (2007) 6534, approved the Programme. It received support from the European Community by means of the European Regional Development Fund resources for particular borderland areas on the Polish and Slovak sides of the border. The support area of the Programme in Poland included among others: the so called Krosno-Przemyśl subregion and in Slovakia Prešovský Kraj and Žilinský Kraj. Additionally, on the Polish side among others poviat Rzeszów and township Rzeszów were also added to the Programme and could participate in the projects as adjacent areas.

The audit of the Programme was undertaken on the basis of a cooperation agreement concluded on 18 February 1998 between the Supreme Audit Office of Poland (NIK) and the Supreme Audit Office of Slovakia (NKU) – as a result of the joint initiative of NIK Regional Branch in Rzeszów and NKU Expozitur: in Košice and Prešov. The audits were conducted in the periods: November 2009–August 2010 and September 2012–May 2013.

The aim of the audit was to assess the regularity with which and extent to which the Polish and Slovak entities have executed the priorities and goals of the Operational Programme Cross-Border Cooperation Republic of Poland – Slovak Republic 2007–2013,  in particular:
− the effectiveness of the joint organisational structure established in both countries for the
management, implementation and audit of the Programme;
− the execution of particular projects (subjects) within the I and II priority axes of the Programme by the beneficiaries with regard to legality, regularity and economy;
− the achievement of operational goals specified for the particular priority axes.

The axes set were:

I. Development of cross-border infrastructure;

II. Social and economic development;

III. Support of local initiatives (microprojects) and

IV. Technical assistance, in compliance with the partnership obligation.

Source: https://www.nku.gov.sk/documents/10272/1542112/2014+-+Trains+border+cooperation.pdf

Coordinated Audit on upper secondary education in Brazil

Report ID: 367

In 2013, the Federal Court of Accounts (TCU) and other 28 Brazilian courts of accounts conducted a coordinated audit to identify problems affecting the quality and coverage of upper secondary education in Brazil and to evaluate the government actions aimed at removing or lessening their causes. For this purpose they signed a Technical Cooperation Agreement on 21/03/2013.

The audit was carried out by over 90 auditors throughout the 2013 financial year. They visited about 580 schools across Brazil. The audit was aimed to identify the main problems affecting the quality and Introduction coverage of secondary education in Brazil, as well as to assess government actions that seek to eliminate or mitigate their causes.

The scope of the audit was guided by five thematic axes: management; infrastructure; teachers; financing and coverage, the first two being part of the common core of issues that were evaluated by all the participating Audit Courts. The audit focused on regular high school education, not being analyzed the Youth and Adult Education (EJA) and the Adult Education (EJA) and professional education were not analyzed.

Upper secondary education, aimed at young people aged 15 to 17, was chosen because it is the phase in lower education faced with great challenges regarding the improvement of education outcomes and of educational indicators. States are mandated to place a higher priority on upper secondary education delivery. The public state education networks comprise about 85% of the total enrollments of this schooling phase.

Source: https://portal.tcu.gov.br/biblioteca-digital/auditoria-coordenada-no-ensino-medio.htm

Joint Report Funds earmarked for the implementation of the Swiss–Czech Cooperation Programme to reduce economic and social disparities within the enlarged European Union (in czech)

Report ID: 403

In 2013 the SAIs of  Czech Republic and Switzerland  agreed to perform a coordinated audit of the “Funds earmarked for the implementation of the Swiss-Czech Cooperation Programme (SCCP) to reduce economic and social disparities within the enlarged European Union”.

The objective of the parallel audit was  to verify the compliance of the cooperation programme activities with the relevant obligations stipulated in the Swiss–Czech Framework Agreement (SCFA), signed on 20 December 2007, as well as in the national legislations and guidelines. Both audits aimed at reviewing the implementation system of the SCCP, the reliability of the control and audit system, the fulfilment of programme objectives and selected projects of beneficiaries.

Source: https://www.nku.cz/assets/publikace/svycarsko-ceska-spoluprace-cz.pdf

Joint report on measures taken in poverty alleviation

Report ID: 405

In the Europe 2020 strategy, adopted by the European Union in 2010, the reduction of the number and proportion of people living in income poverty and social exclusion played an important role. This theme is also among the top sustainability goals adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 2015, as SDG1 aimed to end poverty in all forms and dimensions by 2030.

As part of the Network on Europe 2020 stratege Audit, being one of the Network´s subprojects, the State Audit Office of Hungary (as coordinator), the Bulgarian National Audit Office, The State Audit Office of the Republic of Croatia, the State Audit Office of the Republic of Latvia and the Supreme Office of the Slovak Republic decided to carry out a coordinated audit to allow for sharing their results and experiences from audits focusing on measures taken in poverty alleviation. The SAIS  set out the objectives, scope, methodology and other conditions of the cooperation in an agreement.

The objetive of the audit was to enable the exchange of knowledge, experience and good practices, as well as to evaluate the conclusions and recommendations concerning the execution of the goals of the national strategies and planned measures implemented to improve the circunstances and of people living below the poverty threshold.

The following questions were addressed:

1. Have the strategies, action plans and other related documents been developed in order to achieve poverty reduction goals?

2. Have the aims of reducing poverty, the applied concepts and indicators been defined?

3. Is the reliability of data and information ensured?

4. Have data and information been evaluated?

5. Has the monitoring system of implementation been established and operated?

The international cooperative audit found that the implementation of national strategies and the coordination and cooperation among the impacted institutions achieved different results in the participating five countries. The report includes good practises and lessons learnt.

Source: https://www.nku.gov.sk/documents/10272/1542112/Joint_report_poverty_allevation.pdf