International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions

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International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions
AbbreviationINTOSAI
Formation1953;71 years ago (1953)
Type IGO
Headquarters Vienna, Austria
Secretary General
Margit Kraker [1]
Website www.intosai.org
INTOSAI 50 Years report INTOSAI 50 Years.pdf
INTOSAI 50 Years report

The International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI) is an intergovernmental organization whose members are supreme audit institutions. Nearly every supreme audit institution in the world is a member of INTOSAI. Depending on the type of system used in their home country, the members of INTOSAI may be variously titled the Chief Financial Controller, the Office of the Comptroller General, the Office of the Auditor General, the Court of Accounts, or the Board of Audit.

Contents

INTOSAI holds a triennial conference entitled the International Congress of Supreme Audit Institutions (INCOSAI). [2] It publishes the quarterly International Journal of Government Auditing and publishes guidelines and international standards on auditing.

History

INTOSAI was founded in 1953 [3] in Havana, Cuba. [4] Thirty-four audit organizations formed the group originally and as of 2010 the current membership includes 193 institutions (188 national institutions, the European Court of Auditors and 4 associated members). [3]

The members of INTOSAI are the primary external auditors of the United Nations. [4] The UN's General Assembly appoints the UN Board of Auditors (3 members appointed for 6 years) among the INTOSAI member representatives. [5]

International Standards of Supreme Audit Institutions

The International Standards of Supreme Audit Institutions (ISSAI) are a benchmark for auditing public entities (External Audit Standards for public entities).

The "INTOSAI Auditing Standards" had been approved by the INCOSAI in 1998 and updated in 2001. In its strategic plan 2005–2010, the INTOSAI decided to "provide an up-to-date framework of professional standards", so the INTOSAI Professional Standards Committee decided to merge the existing and new INTOSAI standards and guidelines into a framework.

The framework comprises all documents endorsed by INCOSAI with the purpose of guiding the professional standards used by SAIs

The list of ISSAIs is in the table below:

Hierarchical level of the textISSAI seriesNameNotes and Links www.intosai.org and www.issai.org )
Level 1: Founding PrinciplesISSAI 1The Lima Declaration (endorsed 1977)Comprehensive precepts on auditing in the public sector|
Level 2: PrerequisitesISSAI 10-40Prerequisites for the Functioning of Supreme Audit Institutions* The 'ISSAI 30' Code of Ethics is the statement of values and principles guiding the daily work of the auditors. One of the principles outlined in the Code of Ethics is the statutory auditor’s obligation to apply generally accepted auditing standards. (not to be mistaken with the AICPA's Generally accepted auditing standards)|
Level 3: Fundamental Auditing PrinciplesISSAI 100-400Basic Principles, General Standards, Field Standards (endorsed 2001), and Reporting Standards
Level 4: Auditing GuidelinesISSAI 1000-1810 Financial Audit Guidelines Financial_Audit_Guidelines_E.pdf
ISSAI 3000-3100 Performance Audit Guidelines
ISSAI 4000-4200 Compliance Audit Guidelines
ISSAI 5000-5010Guidelines on auditing International Institutions
ISSAI 5100-5140Guidelines on Environmental Audit
ISSAI 5200-5240Guidelines on Privatisation
ISSAI 5300-5399guidelines on IT-audit
ISSAI 5400-5499Guidelines on Audit of Public Debt
ISSAI 5500-5599Guidelines on Audit of Disaster-related Aid
ISSAI 5600-5699Guidelines on Peer Reviews
Guidance for Good governance INTOSAI GOVs 9100 - 9230 Internal Control and Accounting Standards www.issai.org/media(891,1033)/Internal_Control_Standards.pdf

Public-sector audit types

Financial Audit

Financial audit focuses on determining whether an entity’s financial information is presented in accordance with the applicable financial reporting and regulatory framework. This is accomplished by obtaining sufficient and appropriate audit evidence to enable the auditor to express an opinion as to whether the financial information is free from material misstatement due to fraud or error.

Performance Audit

Performance audit focuses on whether interventions, programmes and institutions are performing in accordance with the principles of economy, efficiency and effectiveness and whether there is room for improvement. Performance is examined against suitable criteria, and the causes of deviations from those criteria or other problems are analysed. The aim is to answer key audit questions and to provide recommendations for improvement.

Compliance Audit

Compliance audit focuses on whether a particular subject matter is in compliance with authorities identified as criteria. Compliance auditing is performed by assessing whether activities, financial transactions and information are, in all material respects, in compliance with the authorities which govern the audited entity. These authorities may include rules, laws and regulations, budgetary resolutions, policy, established codes, agreed terms or the general principles governing sound public sector financial management and the conduct of public officials.

Publications

Adoption by intergovernmental organizations

In addition to the INTOSAI members (the Supreme Audit Institutions), the following intergovernmental organizations have adopted INTOSAI AS:

INTOSAI and Internal Audit

The Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) is among the five associated members of the INTOSAI. [9] The INTOSAI is a strong advocate for the establishment of Independent Internal audit in public entities.

The guidance "INTOSAI GOV 9100" states:

Regional working groups

List of INTOSAI Conferences

INCOSAIPlaceDateHostInformation
I Havana, Cuba November 1953 Ministry of Auditing and Control of the Republic of Cuba
II Brussels, Belgium September 1956 Court of Audit of Belgium
III Rio de Janeiro, Brazil May 1959 Tribunal de Contas da União
IV Vienna, Austria May 1962 Court of Audit of the Republic of Austria
V Jerusalem, Israel June 1965 State Comptroller's Office of Israel
VI Tokyo, Japan May 1968 Board of Audit of Japan
VII Montreal, Canada September 1971Office of the Auditor General of Canada
VIII Madrid, Spain May 1974 Tribunal de Cuentas
IX Lima, Peru October 1977 Contraloría General de la República del Perú
X Nairobi, Kenya June 1980 Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General of Kenya
XI Manila, Philippines April 1983 Philippine Commission on Audit
XII Sydney, Australia April 1986 Australian National Audit Office
XIII Berlin, Germany June 1989 Bundesrechnungshof
German commemorative stamp from XIII INCOSAI Stamps of Germany (Berlin) 1989, MiNr 843.jpg
German commemorative stamp from XIII INCOSAI
XIV Washington, D.C., U.S. October 1992 Government Accountability Office
XV Cairo, Egypt September - October 1995 Central Auditing Organization of Egypt
XVI Montevideo, Uruguay November 1998 Contraloría General de la República del Uruguay
XVII Seoul, South Korea October 2001 Board of Audit and Inspection of Korea
XVIII Budapest, Hungary October 2004 Hungarian State Audit Office
XIX Mexico City, Mexico November 2007 Contraloría General de la República de Mexico https://web.archive.org/web/20081007173620/http://www.incosai2007.org.mx/
XX Johannesburg, South Africa November 2010 Auditor-General of South Africa http://www.incosai.co.za/en/
XXI Beijing, PR China October 2013 National Audit Office of the People's Republic of China
XXII Abu Dhabi, UAE December 2016 State Audit Institution of United Arab Emirates http://www.incosai2016.ae
XXIII Moscow, Russia September 2019 Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation https://incosai2019.ru/en
XXIV Rio de Janeiro, Brazil November 2022 Tribunal de Contas da União https://incosai2022.rio.br/

Memberships

The following supreme audit institution are members of INTOSAI: [9]

Full Members

Supranational Organisations

Associate Members

See also

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References

  1. "Margit Kraker". International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions. Archived from the original on 13 December 2017. Retrieved 14 March 2019.
  2. Shah, Anwar (2007), Performance Accountability and Combating Corruption (PDF), Washington, D.C., U.S.: World Bank, p. 309, ISBN   978-0821369418, OCLC   77116846
  3. 1 2 Hussey, Roger; Ong, Audra Wei Ming (2006), International Financial Reporting Standards Desk Reference, Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, p. 289, ISBN   978-0-471-72715-6, OCLC   57573800
  4. 1 2 Franda, Marcus F. (2006), The United Nations in the Twenty-first Century: Management and Reform Processes in a Troubled Organization, Lanham, Maryland, U.S.: Rowman & Littlefield, p. 219, ISBN   978-0-7425-5334-7, OCLC   62895793
  5. "United Nations Board of Auditors".
  6. "Audit". Archived from the original on 14 October 2009. Retrieved 22 August 2010.
  7. "United Nations Board of Auditors".
  8. The INTOSAI Financial Audit Guidelines will be based on the International Standards on Auditing (ISA) issued by the IAASB http://www.afrosai-e.org.za/HOME/Menu/TechnicalAdvancement/INTOSAIauditingstandards/tabid/82/Default.aspx
  9. 1 2 Official membership list https://www.intosai.org/about-us/members