Knowledge Sharing Committee (KSC)

The working Group was chaired by SAI – United kingdom and dissolved at the XX INTOSAI held in South Africa in November 2010.

The INTOSAI Working Group on the audit of Privatisation, Economic Regulation and Public Private Partnerships was established in 1993. The most significant output of the Group has been the development of an extensive and comprehensive catalogue of audit products, including four sets of audit guidelines on best practice, and twelve cases studies providing detailed information on topics of relevance to members. These have had a significant impact on the development of SAIs audit methodologies and will stand as a reference for auditors in the future. Importantly, members have recognised the value in knowledge sharing between SAIs in order to continuously improve their audit competence, and have delivered around 160 papers at sixteen meetings of the Group. The Group has also made wider contributions to INTOSAI through a strong input to Goal 3 of the INTOSAI Strategic Plan 2005-2010, and the development of links between INTOSAI and other organisations such as the OECD. The Group has made a valuable contribution to the development of audit in many nations, encouraging accountability in the fields of privatisation, economic regulation and public private partnerships.

The UK NAO has chaired the Working Group for the past 17 years from its inception in 1993. The INTOSAI Committee guidelines provide a benchmark and suggest that Committees might rotate the position of Chair every 6-9 years and that Task Force Chairs should generally be appointed for a maximum of three years. In April 2008 the UK NAO announced to the Group’s membership that it planned to cede the Chair and asked for expressions of interest in taking over the role.

When the Group discussed its future in March 2009 at the 15th annual meeting in Moscow, two viable options were identified. These were finding a new Chair to take over from the UK or dissolving the Group. As no new Chair has been found, the UK seeks to dissolve the Group at XX INCOSAI. This matter was discussed and approved by the INTOSAI Governing Board in Cape Town in November 2009. The final annual meeting of the Group, hosted in London in May 2010 by the UK National Audit Office, provided the opportunity to celebrate the Group’s achievements. As the outgoing Chair of the Group, the UK NAO will ensure that the legacy of the Group is preserved and we will of course ensure that any responsibilities prescribed by INTOSAI guidelines are discharged.

On 26 December 2004 a massive tsunami struck 14 countries around the Indian Ocean. Over 230,000 people were killed and the property and livelihoods of many more were destroyed. Public and private donors provided 14 billion USD in humanitarian aid to the disaster-affected regions. SAIs that carried out audits found it difficult to unravel this complicated web of aid flows. Arrangements for transparency and accountability proved inadequate.

INTOSAI responded by creating firstly a Task Force and then the Working Group on Accountability for and the Audit of Disaster related Aid. The Working Group was invited to:

• prepare guidelines and good practice on auditing disaster risk reduction and post disaster aid to assist SAIs to help limit the impact of disasters and improve the effectiveness, economy and efficiency of aid, and
• propose steps to improve the transparency and accountability of disaster related and other humanitarian aid.

In 2013, the XXI INCOSAI in Beijing approved the new 5500 series of ISSAIs on auditing disaster-related aid and INTOSAI GOV 9250. Having achieved the tasks set for it, WGAADA could then be disbanded. The Knowledge Sharing Committee, which oversees Goal 3 of INTOSAI’s Strategic Plan, now hosts the archives of the life and works of WGAADA.

The new 5500 series of ISSAIs and INTOSAI GOV 9250 have been published by the INTOSAI Professional Standards Committee.

In 2010 the XX INCOSAI in South Africa commended the work being undertaken and extended the mandate by asking the Working Group to examine the usefulness of its work for the whole of humanitarian aid. The Working Group translated the two overall objectives into a dozen concrete tasks. In addition to guidelines on the audit of disaster-related aid and on the audit of the disaster-preparedness of governments, awareness of the risks of fraud and corruption and the use of GIS as an audit tool were identified as topics warranting specific guidelines. The Working Group addressed important stakeholders (donor and recipient governments, international organisations and aid organisations) and standard setting bodies, such as OECD/DAC, the Good Humanitarian Donorship (GHD) and the Representatives of Internal Audit Services of United Nations organisations and multilateral financial institutions and other associated intergovernmental organisations (RIAS).

At the end of its second term, the Working Group had completed its work and presented to the XXI INCOSAI in China in October 2013:

• a new 5500 series of five ISSAIs on auditing disaster-related aid including
• examples of good practice provided by SAIs which were WG members or
• which participated in coordinated audits, surveys or widespread consultation
• on auditing disaster-related aid;
• Framework (the IFAF), for reporting and making publically available
• transparent, audited financial information on humanitarian aid, and
• a final report on the work of the Working Group.

European Court of Auditors chaired the working group. Since 2008, the Working Group has had a membership of between 18 and 23 SAIs with a balance of representatives from donor and potential aid recipient countries and from a wide variety of geographical locations. In 2013, the following SAIs were members: Austria, Chile, China, the European Court of Auditors, France, Georgia, India, Indonesia, Jamaica, Japan, Kenya, Korea (Republic of), the Netherlands, Norway, Pakistan, Peru, the Philippines, Romania, Russian Federation, Sri Lanka, Turkey, the Ukraine and the United States of America. The European Court of Auditors chaired the Working Group and provided its secretariat.

At the XXI INCOSAI, the Chairman of WGAADA requested the Congress to dissolve the Working Group.

On occasion of the 57th INTOSAI Governing Board meeting in November 2007 in Mexico, a new Task Force INTOSAI Communications Strategy was created under the auspices of the Knowledge Sharing Committee – Goal 3 of the Strategic Plan. The Task Force was chaired by the INTOSAI General Secretariat and involved the Secretariats of the seven Regional Working Groups, the International Journal of Government Auditing (IJGA), the Collaboration Tool, the INTOSAI Development Initiative (IDI), as well as the Director of Strategic Planning (DSTP).

While improving overall communication of INTOSAI was its primary goal, the task force specifically aimed at defining useful communication tools and instruments; identifying target groups; and agreeing on core messages and the means of conveying those messages to INTOSAI members, bodies, associated partners, and the broader public.

The INTOSAI Communication Strategy Task Force set out to elaborate a Communication Guideline to provide for consistent communication procedures and give practical guidance. The INTOSAI Communication Guideline presented the strategic focus, objectives, target groups and communication tools for internal and external communication to make the principles, the work and the quality of INTOSAI’s activities and its members visible and enhance the role of INTOSAI and its members as independent, competent and effective government audit institutions for the benefit and in the interest of all, so as to increase transparency, accountability and credibility.

The INTOSAI Communication Guideline was based on the communication practice of INTOSAI as well as on the INTOSAI Communication Policy and focussed on the following:

1. Enhancing the free flow of information, ideas, experiences and knowledge between INTOSAI members;
2. Encouraging open communication among INTOSAI members;
3. Making available timely, accurate and useful information on INTOSAI activities;
4. Ensuring that INTOSAI is visible and accessible to all members and other stakeholders;
5. Promoting the basic principles of openness and transparency in communication and ensuring that communication is objective, timely, clear and easily understood;
6. Establishing a clear and coordinated approach to external communication to ensure consistency and overall appropriateness;
7. Ensuring that all communication is consistent with the Mission, Vision, and Strategic Goals of INTOSAI; – 3 – INTOSAI Communication Guideline – November 2010
8. Promoting effective communication for the successful implementation of the INTOSAI Strategic Plan and the goals it sets out;
9. Promoting effective institutional communication on the importance of INTOSAI and SAIs as well as on the importance of public auditing in public governance.

SAI Mexico chaired the Task Force on SAI’s Information Database. The INTOSAI SAI’s Information Database aimed at gathering and making available information such as SAIs’ organization, administrative characteristics, mandate, scope, and auditing practices, as well as data on their communication methods and reporting, among other topics. This Database makes available the information gathered through a friendly-user electronic tool that can be used by all INTOSAI members and the general public.

It is important to highlight that this Database is neither aimed at assessing nor judging the INTOSAI members’ auditing practice, products, organization, and relationship with other entities. On the contrary, this project’s objectives are:

• to strengthen the communication, cooperation and exchange of information,
• to foster the identification of themes of common interest,
• to support the SAIs’ capacity building and continuous improvement,
• to maximize the SAIs’ and the stakeholders’ use of INTOSAI knowledge services,
• to demonstrate the value and benefits of SAIs, thus enhancing the public confidence, and
• to make a contribution to the SAIs’ and INTOSAI’s openness and transparency, thus strengthening their position and reputation.

At the XXI INCOSAI, the Task Force was dissolved. The Working Group on the Value and Benefit of SAIs followed up the activities related to the electronic tool.