Roundtable on Independence of Supreme Audit Institutions

 

  

On the initiative of the Audit Office of the Institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina (SAI BiH), the Network of Supreme Audit Institutions of Candidate and Potential Candidate Countries and European Court of Auditors (the Network) held a roundtable on SAI independence in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, on 8 September 2016. The roundtable was organised by SIGMA in co-operation with SAI BiH.

The objective of the roundtable was to create a platform for discussion amongst the Network SAIs about the challenges they face with respect to their statutory, organisational and financial independence, develop a comprehensive analysis of the key issues, and identify potential examples of good practice from which the SAIs can build on their existing capacities and find potentially applicable solutions.

Independence is a fundamentally important issue for SAIs, and is recognised in the Lima and Mexico declarations and in the UN General Assembly resolution 66/209 of March 2012 promoting the efficiency, accountability, effectiveness and transparency of public administration by strengthening SAIs, which also emphasised that SAIs can only accomplish their tasks objectively and effectively if they are independent of the audited entity and are protected against outside influence. This is further underlined by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) contained in the United Nations Agenda 2030 adopted in September 2015. It is an important component from the perspective of EU integration, and is a key requirement in The Principles of Public Administration developed by SIGMA and the European Commission.

The conference brought together senior management of the SAIs of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo*, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Turkey.

On the basis of a survey on independence issues for SAIs within the Network that was conducted and presented by SAI BiH, the heads and representatives of SAIs and Bosnian members of Parliament discussed statutory and financial independence, and mandatory audits.

Agenda I List of participants
Opening speech by Mr. Dragan Vrankic, Auditor General, SAI BiH** Opening speech by Karen Hill, Head of the SIGMA Programme Presentations SAI Bosnia and Herzegovina, survey results European Court of Accounts, EU enlargement requirements Bianca Brétéché, SIGMA, discussion input Alastair Swarbrick, SIGMA, IDI programme on independence	Discussion paper   SAI Bosnia and Herzegovina, statutory independence** SAI Montenegro, mandatory audits** SAI Serbia, financial independence** ** Document in original language

  * 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.

 

Photos l-r: SIGMA - Aida Redzepagic