Five hundred delegates representing over 150 SAIs met at the XX INTOSAI Congress, organised in November 2010 in Johannesburg, South Africa. INTOSAI is an international organisation gathering 189 Supreme Audit Institutions. Every three years, its members meet at a congress, referred to as INCOSAI, to share their knowledge and experience.
New challenges
INTOSAI Congresses are a platform for setting new directions for the organisation’s activities. The year 2010 is a year of new challenges - the delegates adopted a new strategic plan of the organisation for 2011-2016. The new strategy comprises four strategic goals: (1) promote strong, independent and multidisciplinary SAIs, and encourage good governance, (2) build the capabilities and professional capacities of SAIs through training, technical assistance, information sharing and other capacity building activities, (3) encourage SAI cooperation, collaboration and continuous improvement through knowledge sharing, and (4) organise and govern INTOSAI in ways that promote economical, efficient, and effective working practices, while maintaining due regard for autonomy of member SAIs.
Within the implementation of the four strategic goals, the Congress has set the priorities of the organisation. In the following three years, they will be focusing on issues related to the independence of SAIs, on the implementation of international auditing standards, on the strengthening of the capacity of individual national SAIs and on fight against corruption.
During the XX INCOSAI, the NIK assumed the chairmanship of the INTOSAI Sub-Committee on Internal Control Standards.
INTOSAI standards
The Congress in Johannesburg has officially adopted the International Standards of Supreme Audit Institutions (ISSAIs) and guidance on good governance (INTOSAI GOVs). Forty new standards have been presented. They all have been comprised in a complete and updated set aimed at providing a comprehensive international framework for public sector auditing.
Values and benefits of SAIs
INTOSAI members have decided to emphasise the values of SAIs’ activities. An independent audit institution is an important element of a democratic system. Results of audits significantly contribute to the efficiency of the public sector. They emphasise the value of the state’s good governance, transparency and responsibility.
The delegates have agreed that special tools need to be developed to measure these values. They will be used by SAIs in self-assessments, in reviews of their activity and in strategic planning.
Environmental auditing
The discussion on the role of SAIs in environmental auditing was an important element of the INTOSAI Congress. INTOSAI encourages its members to conduct audits in this field, as they are of high importance now, at the time when numerous environmental problems are reported on everyday. President of the NIK Jacek Jezierski was the Vice-Chair of the Congress thematic session dedicated to environmental auditing.
Time to sum up
Every INTOSAI Congress is an excellent opportunity to sum up the achievements of all INTOSAI bodies, both its regional groups and working groups convened to achieve specific objectives. Among INTOSAI working groups, there is EUROSAI, namely the European Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions. Jacek Jezierski, who is its Chair, summed up EUROSAI activities undertaken over the last three years. He reported on, among others, its works on the development of the organisation’s strategic plan and discussed its collaboration with external partners.
