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Cooperation with the State Audit and Administrative Control Bureau of Palestine

The Swedish National Audit Office has suspended cooperation with the State Audit and Administrative Control Bureau of Palestine since the Swedish Government has suspended development assistance. In the past, we helped the authority improve its audits, plan strategically, write clear reports, and supported their managers in leadership and media communication.

Focus areas

In our cooperation, we focus on supporting the State Audit and Administrative Control Bureau of Palestine in its work on auditing in line with international principles and standards. Our cooperation has covered several areas.

It is important to identify relevant topics for audit and to plan the audits. We have supported the State Audit and Administrative Control Bureau of Palestine in developing the ability to strategically and operationally plan its broad activities and use its limited resources to deliver relevant and qualitative audits.

We have trained several employees in how to write reports that are clear, well structured and easy to read. We have also cooperated on how they can assure the quality of the content and the language of the audit. These are important aspects, especially considering that many readers of the audit reports often do not have an auditing background.

We have trained managers in leadership and organisational change to help them develop leadership and strengthen internal communication. Within the scope of our cooperation, we have upgraded their intranet, which is now managed by the employees themselves with our support.

Together, we have created better prospects for their audits to have an impact in the media. We have supported the authority in developing guidelines for relationship-building and media management, which has led to a better impact in the media for published audits.

A supreme audit institution needs to create favourable circumstances for steady skills supply through the recruitment of relevant personnel, professional development efforts, and by having an effective process for termination of employment. Our cooperation with the State Audit and Administrative Control Bureau of Palestine has focused on creating conditions for steady skills supply through a series of training courses aimed at a group of employees from the audit activities and from other supporting functions within the authority. They have been tasked with training their colleagues.

Outcomes

Our cooperation with the State Audit and Administrative Control Bureau of Palestine has led to several results. This includes

  • The State Audit and Administrative Control Bureau of Palestine has improved its strategic planning. The authority has improved at identifying relevant topics for audit.
  • Audits have become more structured, transparent and aligned with international standards.
  • The authority has improved at planning its activities.
  • It has developed favourable conditions for conducting performance audits. The authority has been granted a mandate to work on performance audits. It has established and staffed a separate department for this purpose and the quality of the reports has improved.
  • The audits led the government to take action.
  • The authority established a quality control structure within its audit activities.
  • Leadership has improved and managers have been trained in leadership and organisational change.
  • Internal communication has improved between different organisational levels and the intranet has been upgraded and is now managed by the employees. Employees are promoting the importance of everyone now having equal access to information.
  • The audits have had a greater impact in the media and external communication has been improved. Journalists have gained deeper knowledge and understanding of auditing, which has led to auditors being more involved in media efforts.
  • The capacity and ability of a group of instructors to hold internal training courses for their colleagues has been strengthened.

Circumstances and challenges

Despite various challenges, the State Audit and Administrative Control Bureau of Palestine shows a strong ambition to develop its organisation and audit public institutions.