Workshop on digital auditing for Supreme Audit Institutions

 

SIGMA held a workshop for the network of Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) of candidate and potential candidate countries and the European Court of Auditors (the Network), in Skopje on 6-7 November 2019. The event, which was hosted in co-operation with the State Audit Office of North Macedonia, focused on digital auditing. The roundtable brought together the SAIs of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo*, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Turkey.

Over the last decade, digital technology has become an increasingly familiar part of everyday life. Government, public services, businesses and citizens have become increasingly dependent on it operating successfully. New technology creates opportunities to deliver public services in different ways, it also creates new expectations of how public services should look and operate in this digital age. It opens new possibilities for interacting with and empowering citizens, but also creates risks.

Supreme Audit Institutions, as they look to address the issues and risks that are relevant to their stakeholders, need to respond to the digital age. They need to consider the digitalisation of government operations and public services in planning their work, and examine how they develop the digital skills, tools and technology to deliver more impactful audit products efficiently and effectively.

The main objectives of the workshop were to create a platform for discussion amongst the Network SAIs about: the challenges they face in responding to the digitalisation of government operations and public services; the digital tools and technology they can use to support their work; and, how they build the relevant capacity and skills throughout their institutions.

The workshop was interactive and based on case presentations. Experts from European Union (EU) member countries informed participants about EU practices, and the Network SAIs shared experiences of how they are developing IT and digital audit. The roundtable also provided participants with the opportunity to meet informally, compare national experiences and discuss specific issues among peers.

Agenda I List of participants

Presentations:

Digital audit, a strategic approach, Morag Campsie, Audit Scotland

Digital audit, addressing the opportunities and challenges of Digital Technology, Ingrīda Kalniņa-Junga, State Audit Office, Latvia

Digital audit at the European Court of Auditors, Konstantinos Chatzis, ECA

State Audit Institution, Albania I Audit Office of the Institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina 

National Audit Office, Kosovo* I State Audit Institution, Montenegro (MNE) I State Audit Office, North Macedonia

State Audit Institution, Serbia I Turkish Court of Accounts

* This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244/99 and the Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice on Kosovo’s declaration of independence.