Swedish NAO candidacy to the EUROSAI Governing Board 2024–2030
I am delighted to submit our candidacy to serve on the EUROSAI Governing Board. The Swedish National Audit Office has been deeply involved in the EUROSAI organization since its inception, serving both as President and member of the Governing Board in the 1990s and as a co-leader of EUROSAI Strategic Goal 2 on institutional capacity building since 2017. We are now looking forward to once again being an active part of the EUROSAI Governing Board, as a driver in the development of EUROSAI as well as promoting institutional capacity development in SAIs where there is a demand for improvement.
Ms. Helena Lindberg
Auditor General
Our commitment
Having served as co-leader in the work of EUROSAI Strategic Goal 2 for seven years we are devoted to continue the important work with a maintained focus on demand-driven initiatives, innovation, agility, results and value for EUROSAI members.
The Swedish NAO has a several decade’s long history of engaging in capacity development cooperation projects worldwide, allowing synergies to leverage on also in EUROSAI capacity building support. For this purpose, it’s our intention is to assign a full-time senior manager for EUROSAI capacity building activities.
Our strenghts
The Swedish NAO is recognized by its peers as a modern SAI and we strive to be at the forefront of developments. As a well-managed organization with a holistic perspective, we are aiming at producing high-quality and highly relevant audits today and tomorrow. We believe our skills and experience in the following six areas are our key strengths.
The strong mandate and legal framework provided by the Swedish Riksdag guarantee our independence and provide us with the conditions needed to be a relevant and high-performing SAI. Thus, our performance audit remit is laid down in law, with a process in place that ensures that our findings and recommendations are considered both by the Government and the Riksdag.
We have regular dialogue with the Riksdag relating to our audits and operations, not at least in the Riksdag Council for the Swedish NAO.
Adapting to change is fundamental in enabling us to reach our goal, “Audit that makes a difference today and tomorrow”. Innovation and digitalisation have a central role in the development of both staff and the organisation. To this end, we have established a dedicated in-house function with competencies in data science, strategy and innovation. These efforts have yielded useful results, such as several new applications that help streamline audit processes.
The Swedish NAO was an early contributor to and adopter of the international standards for financial audit. Our financial audit process has proven to be well-documented, thorough and in line with international standards.
We have several processes in place to maintain the quality and relevance of our audits and to ensure constant improvement. These include providing continuous professional development of auditing skills among staff. We also use tools such as data analysis and machine learning to make financial audit more efficient.
According to the latest peer review (2022), the Swedish NAO has a clear process that takes performance audit reports through their lifecycle, and the guidance appears both easy to follow and appreciated by the teams that use it.
The peer review also identified a range of strengths, such as consistently good quality analysis as well as clear and thorough explanation of the performance audit scope and methods. In line with our efforts to innovate and digitalise, new applications are in use to plan and conduct performance audit more efficiently.
The Swedish NAO has a long and well-documented history of institutional capacity development of sister organisations around the world. With an annual appropriation (EUR 5 million) from the Riksdag, we can establish long-term commitments and achieve sustainable results in bilateral, regional and global capacity development partnerships with SAIs in developing countries. Staff members from different departments within our organisation are engaged in these projects to support and promote capacity development.
The Swedish NAO has held various leading positions in EUROSAI and INTOSAI over the past decades. We were among the driving forces in the creation of EUROSAI and chaired EUROSAI during the period 1993–1996. At present, we hold the position of co-leader of EUROSAI Strategic Goal 2 and, in that capacity, represent EUROSAI in the INTOSAI Professional Standards Committee.
Within INTOSAI, we were the leading SAI to establish standards for performance and financial audit, as well as to draft the first INTOSAI Code of Ethics. Also, as chair of the Auditing Standards Committee, we were the driving force in establishing INTOSAI’s partnership with the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC), resulting in a comprehensive set of financial audit standards (ISSAI) for the INTOSAI community. Currently, we hold the position of vice chair of both the INTOSAI Capacity Building Committee and the Financial Audit and Accounting Subcommittee.
We have the experience and resources needed to lead international committees and working groups and to contribute to the strategic direction of both EUROSAI and INTOSAI. We believe our broad network within and extensive knowledge about the SAI community will be beneficial for the work in the EUROSAI Governing Board and for EUROSAI as a whole.
Previous engagements within EUROSAI and INTOSAI
2017–2024
Co-leader of EUROSAI Strategic Goal 2 on Capacity Building.
2022
Host of the Fifth Young EUROSAI (YES) Conference in Stockholm.
2021
Chair of INTOSAI CBC Audit of Donor Funds, ongoing.
2018
Chair of INTOSAI CBC Auditing in Complex and Challenging Contexts (ACCC), ongoing.
2013
Vice chair of INTOSAI Capacity Building Committee (CBC), ongoing. INTOSAI PSC Financial Audit and Accounting Standards Subcommittee (FAAS) Member 2013–2023. Vice chair since 2023.
2012–2023
The Auditor General of Sweden served on the Board of the INTOSAI Development initiative (IDI).
2006
Member of the INTOSAI Professional Standards Committee (PSC) Steering Committee, ongoing.
2001–2013
Chair of INTOSAI Financial Audit Guidelines Subcommittee.
1996–1999
Member of EUROSAI Governing Board.
1993–1996
President of EUROSAI.
1990
Board member at the establishment of EUROSAI.
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