How we assure quality
Like any other central government activities, the work of the Swedish National Audit Office needs to be subject to monitoring and control. This is done in a variety of ways, internally and externally.
The Swedish National Audit Office is part of parliamentary control and has an independent role enshrined in the Constitution. This means that, within the limits of the law, the Auditor General decides what is to be audited, how the audit is to be conducted and what conclusions we can draw from it.
Although the Swedish National Audit Office has an autonomous and independent position in terms of its audit activities, we adhere to the regulations that apply to government agencies with regard to matters of public access to information and secrecy. Furthermore, the Swedish National Audit Office is supervised by the Parliamentary Ombudsmen, and our work is also monitored in several other ways, both internally and externally, in order to gain knowledge of how our operations can be developed.
We look back in order to progress
To ensure that our work maintains a high level of quality, experts regularly inspect our working methods and individual audits. Quality is assured through:
- Internal audit that examines whether the management’s governance and control is designed efficiently.
- Internal and external quality controls of our audits. Our Scientific Council, which provides guidance on specific issues and questions concerning methods and methodology development.
- The fact that the government agencies that we audit are given the opportunity to fact-check our reports and provide feedback on our work through surveys.
Other supreme audit institutions examine our operations
Supreme audit institutions in other countries regularly audit us. They submit a report with recommendations that can be used to strengthen our activities. Such an audit of the Swedish National Audit Office has been carried out twice, in 2013 and 2022.
The Riksdag’s investigations of the Swedish National Audit Office
The Riksdag follows up on our work based on our annual retrospective reports. Every year, the Auditor General also takes part in a public hearing in the Riksdag. The Riksdag can also inspect our organisation and activities by appointing a parliamentary inquiry. This has been done on three occasions since the Swedish National Audit Office was established in 2003.
The Scientific Council
The Swedish National Audit Office includes a Scientific Council which is tasked with advising on specific issues and questions about methods and methodology development. It is a forum for discussions on our auditing and other matters relevant to the Swedish National Audit Office. The Auditor General who determines the Council’s activities and decides the composition of the Council.
The members of the Scientific Council are elected for a term of two years. They have different areas of expertise and represent different academic disciplines. Auditor General Christina Gellerbrant Hagberg is the Chair. The Council usually meets four times a year.
Members of the Scientific Council
- Karin Bäckstrand (Professor, Department of Political Science, Stockholm University)
- Maria Bratt Börjesson (Professor, VTI, Transport Economics)
- John Hassler (Professor, Institute of International Economic Studies, Stockholm University)
- Vilhelm Persson (Professor, Faculty of Law, Lund University)
- Helena Wockelberg (Associate Professor, Department of Government, Uppsala University)
- Peter Öhman (Professor, Centre for Research on Economic Relations, Mid Sweden University)
- Frida Pemer (Associate Professor, Department of Management and Organization, Stockholm School of Economics)
- Olof Bäckman (Professor, Department of Criminology, Stockholm University)
- Olof Åslund (Professor, Department of Economics, Uppsala University)