Tasks

The Swedish NAO has three primary tasks: financial audit, performance audit and international operations.

 

Financial Audit

The purpose of the financial audit is to examine and assess, in accordance with good auditing practice, whether the annual financial reports of public agencies are reliable, and whether their accounts provide a true and fair view of their operations. Also, to examine whether the top management of the agencies audited follow applicable rules and decisions.

 

Financial audits examine the annual financial reports of the following entities:

  • the Swedish State
  • the Government Offices (i.e. the Prime Minister’s Office, the various ministries and the Office for Administrative Affairs) and the public agencies reporting to the Government, with the exception of the seven National Pension Funds
  • the administration of the Swedish Parliament, the Parliamentary Ombudsmen, the Swedish central bank (Riksbank) and its Tercentary Foundation
  • the Royal Household and Establishment and the Royal Djurgården Park Administration

Financial audits also examine the interim financial statement of those auditees who are responsible for presenting such statements. In addition, the Swedish NAO is entitled to appoint auditors for foundations and the state-owned enterprises. In the cases of the Swedish State, the Government Offices, the Royal Household and Establishment and the Royal Djurgården Park Administration, the financial audits do not assess the work carried out by the top management of the respective entities.

 

Performance Audit

Performance audits examine the efficiency and the effectiveness of public administration. They focus on matters relating to the state budget, public administration, performance and results and other public commitments. The purpose of the performance audits is to promote development and enable the State to obtain good value for money in its quest to consider the general interests of society.

 

Performance audits may examine the operations carried out by

  • the Government, the Government Offices, the courts of law and the public agencies reporting to the Government, the administration of the Swedish Parliament and the Public agencies reporting to the Swedish Parliament
  • The Royal Household and Establishment and the Royal Djurgården Park Administration
  • Foundations and state-owned enterprises
  • Entities using public grants and benefits, if the operations concerned are governed by law or the State has a controlling influence over them
  • Unemployment benefit funds, as regards the management of unemployment benefits

International Operations

The Swedish NAO engages in extensive international operations which consist of collaborating and maintaining contacts with other supreme audit institutions, work relating to the European Union (EU), audits of international organisations and the international development co-operation. Some of the collaboration activities and contacts take place under the auspices of the International Organisation of the Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI). These contacts help develop all of the Swedish NAO’s operations and its entire organisation. The Swedish NAO assists the European Court of Auditors in its examination of the use of EU funds in Sweden. In addition, the Swedish NAO co-operates actively with the supreme audit institutions of the other EU member states. The main purpose of this co-operation is to exchange information and experience as regards the auditing of EU funds. Further, the Swedish NAO may act as an external auditor in international organisations where Sweden is a member and donor.

 

The aim of the international development co-operation is to help build stronger audit institutions in developing countries. At present the Swedish NAO is primarily co-operating with audit institutions in Africa and south-eastern Europe. The Swedish Parliament has been granting the Swedish NAO funds for aid to be used in international development co-operation since 2004.

INTOSAI FINANCIAL AUDIT SUBCOMMITTEE (FAS)

 

Many Supreme Audit Institutions have over the years expressed a need for more detailed guidance for auditing than what is available today. In order to develop the level of quality and detail needed in the financial audit guidelines the Financial Audit Subcommittee (FAS) was created.

The Swedish National Audit Office chairs the subcommittee and is the host of a secretariat administrating the work of FAS.

 

The task of the subcommittee is to produce globally accepted auditing guidelines for the public sector. This is done by leveraging the expertise and resources of the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB), an internationally respected auditing standards setting organization.

 

FAS comprises of eleven INTOSAI members: Cameroon, Canada, the European Court of Auditors, the Republic of Korea, Mexico, Namibia, Norway, South Africa, Sweden (chair), the United Kingdom, and the United States. 

 

 Visit the FAS website