21 March 2017 Strengthening SAI capacities for auditing SDGs Kimi - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Strengthening SAI capacities for auditing SDGs Kimi Makwetu, Auditor-General of South Africa Chair: INTOSAI Capacity Building Committee

21 March 2017

Strengthening SAI capacities for auditing SDGs

• Agenda 2030 calls for business unusual – a strategic shift
• Opportunity to demonstrate SAIs’ value
• Agenda 2030 will be a missed opportunity for SAIs without

strengthened capacities

• Asses our current

capacities, and rapidly address the gaps

SAI strategy for auditing the SDGs

• Government’s integrated SDG strategies, planning, and new

evolving risks will require SAIs to adust our own strategies

• SAIs must ensure our strategic insights reach the stakeholders

who matter

• Our strategic priorities & budgets must reflect our SDG focus
• Ensure adequate SAIs

mandates – take steps to widen if necessary

Planning the auditing of SDGs

• SDG audit planning ―a 12 year project requiring a long term

but flexible approach

• Avoid fragmented planning by means of structured following-

up of gaps initially identified

• Limited SAI resources requires well-structured, multi-year

planning

Organising our work for auditing the SDGs

• Agenda 2030 relies on integrating planning, measurement,

implementation and reporting systems

• SAIs’ traditional departmentalized approach to make room for

multiple teams able to audit sectors and clusters

• SAIs will have to consciously manage the change required –
• multiple teams & leaders
• new communication lines
• ensure consistency
• value continuous learning

Professional competencies for auditing SDGs

General competencies:

• Critical thinking, perspective taking and social intelligence
• Research knowledge & skills
• Attitude – openess and

collaboration

Professional competencies for auditing SDGs

Performance audit:

• Agenda 2030 – an opportunity for SAIs to mature PA as a core

value-adding audit disciple

• Specialist expertise now more relevant than ever
• Gradual introduction of

specialist skills as the need unfolds

Professional competencies for auditing SDGs

Environmental auditing:

• Essential audit discipline given 7 environmental related SDGs
• Capacity to understand environmental risks
• Able to map processes and the environmental impacts in each

part of the process

• Exercise holistic thinking
• Ability to build stakeholder

partnerships

Professional competencies for auditing SDGs

Information systems auditing and use of technology:

• SAIs must also gear up our analytical and quantitative capacity

to cope with increasingly complex and high-volume data environment of SDGs

• Ability to use the correct data analysis tools

across all audit teams

• Use of new technology will help us

work more efficiently and effectively

Professional competencies for auditing SDGs

Effective communication of our messages:

• Governments under immense pressure to implement are

bound to make mistakes

• SAIs have potentially indispensable role by helping the

implementers with our professional insights

• SAIs must also ensure transparency

and support social inclusion

• Stakeholder communication – an

indispensable SAI business process

Professional competencies for auditing SDGs

Capacity to lead by example:

• Our credibility as SDG auditors will depend on our own

accountability and capacity to function as model institutions by:  Implementing ISSAI 12  Assessing our own performance with credible tools (SAI PMF, Peer Reviews)  Demonstrating ongoing relevance as credible sources of insight owing to

• ur strengthened capacities

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