We support supreme audit institutions in other countries
We help other supreme audit institutions improve their auditing of central government activities. Our collaboration aims to help them become more professional and effective in their operations. Our goal is to help bring our partners into line with international standards and to help them attain more prudent use of public resources.
Mission to strengthen auditing internationally
We receive an annual appropriation of SEK 50 million from the Riksdag for our international development work. This appropriation is to be used for international development cooperation in accordance with Swedish development cooperation policy.
Our goal is to help empower other supreme audit institutions in their endeavour to become more professional and effective, and to develop their ability to work in accordance with international standards. Our international development partnerships are long-term projects that often last for many years.
We currently have partnerships with supreme audit institutions in Africa, South-East Europe, Asia and Oceania.
Current projects
Here, you can read about our efforts together with our partners in these regions and countries.
How we decide what to support
Before initiating a partnership, we need to determine whether the cooperation lies within the scope of Swedish development cooperation policy and whether it supports the objectives of our international mandate. We analyse the conditions that exist for productive cooperation:
- the current political and economic situation of the supreme audit institution
- the capacity of the institution
- the role of the institution in relation to parliament and society at large
- the objectives and activities a partnership would include
- whether we are in a position to assist in relation to the needs.
Supreme audit institutions have an important role to play
The supreme audit institutions with which we cooperate often operate under challenging conditions. This may be due to poorly developed democratic systems, corruption or poverty. Our partners’ independent status is often limited such that it prevents them from performing their remit. Some partners in Europe are also striving to meet the requirements of EU membership concerning administration and auditing.
Through their auditing, supreme audit institutions can help to develop the proper functioning of democracy and administration. This, in turn, can lead to better conditions for citizens.
The supreme audit institutions with which we cooperate have a strong desire to develop and strengthen their role. Our partnerships are long-term in nature, spanning many years, and our partners make constant progress.
Our work on development cooperation
To a large extent, our cooperation projects involve providing peer-to-peer support in our sister authorities that need help to develop.
We provide advice and practical guidance on projects and organisational issues. We provide training and skills development among key personnel in various areas of activity so that they, in turn, can train and support colleagues and lead change processes within their institution.
The specific activities included in each project depend on our partners’ needs. Together, we set goals and plan activities to strengthen and support the areas where needs exist.
Our cooperation projects include activities that support an effective audit process that leads to high-quality audits. Conducting high-quality audits also requires well-functioning processes within the organisation and in areas such as human resources and communication. This is why these areas also form part of our cooperation projects. We also support our partners in strategic issues that affect the supreme audit institution’s capacity to continue to develop its organisation on its own.
Joint planning
When initiating a cooperation project, we formulate project goals and a project plan together with our partner. We also establish a joint steering group. Each project includes a project manager at the International Department of the Swedish National Audit Office and a person with corresponding responsibilities at the partner organisation. These individuals are responsible for planning, staffing and follow-up of projects.
A large number of staff from different parts of the Swedish National Audit Office participate in one or more projects as short-term experts. Our short-term experts are responsible for implementing the agreed project activities.
We regularly monitor the outcome
We report the outcome of these operations each year in our annual report. Every four years, we also submit an in-depth report and analysis of our results to the Riksdag.
In the latest report, we present our results for the period 2019–2022. The outcome is based on external parties’ evaluations and on our own assessments.