How INTOSAI can contribute to the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,? AFROSAI POSITION ON INCOSAI Theme n°1

INTOSAI’s current and past initiatives on SDGs 23d UN/INTOSAI Symposium on UN Post-2015 Development Agenda Knowledge Sharing Platform on SDGs Introduction of SDGs in the Strategic Plan Theme to be discussed at INCOSAI 2016

INCOSAI 2016 Theme I of the coming XXII INOCSAI, which will be chaired by the SAI of Saudi Arabia in cooperation with the SAI of UAE, will be “How INTOSAI can contribute to the UN post 2015 agenda including good governance in order to strengthen the fight against corruption?”

INTOSAI 4 approaches to SDGs  assessing the readiness of national systems to report on progress towards the achievement of the SDGs, and subsequently to audit their operation and the reliability of the data they produce (Approach 1);  undertaking performance audits that examine the economy, efficiency, and effectiveness of key government programs that contribute to specific aspects of the SDGs (Approach 2);  assessing and supporting the implementation of SDG 16 which relates in part to transparent, efficient, and accountable institutions; and (Approach 3)  being models of transparency and accountability in their own operations, including auditing and reporting (Approach 4).

AFROSAI position on INTOSAI approach to SDGs Taking into consideration the central roles of INTOSAI and its member SAIs in promoting good governance and accountability, AFROSAI considers the four approaches to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as globally relevant

COMMENTS ON APPROACH N°1 Noting that progress towards the SDGs will rely on the effectiveness of the monitoring and reporting systems, it will be important for governments to establish robust and reliable systems. The approach could become particularly relevant if SAIs, in-line with their legislation, could engage the relevant role-players during the process of establishing effective reporting and monitoring systems to provide insight.

COMMENTS ON APPROACH N°2 Performance audits will be crucial to assess the effectiveness, the efficiency and the economy of government’s programs contributing to the SDGs. AFROSAI Region can play a key role in implementing this approach since most of its member SAIs have the mandate to conduct Performance Audits and we can already note that joint, coordinated or parallel performance audits have already been conducted at the regional and sub-regional level.

COMMENTS ON APPROACH N°3 With regards to the role of SAIs in assessing and supporting the implementation of SDG 16, the Regional Group can contribute at three levels. Firstly by supporting the SAIs in their advocacy for the improvement of public financial management, including the accounting frameworks. Secondly, the regions can facilitate widening the audit scope to include the audit of performance information. And finally, by using the audit results from the SAIs to provide regional analysis to identify common challenges to financial management and good governance.

COMMENTS ON APPROACH N°4 SAIs need to “walk the talk” and lead by example in continuously demonstrating good governance. Therefore, in line with ISSAI 12 and ISSAI 20, SAIs need to be models of transparency and accountability by reporting on their own performance and operations. In that regard, the SAI-PMF is a useful tool and AFROSAI is very appreciative of the introduction of indicators for the SAIs with judicial powers (which account for almost half of the SAIs within the Region) in the latest version of the SAI PMF. AFROSAI also acknowledges the existence of other tools within the Region that can be used to assess the performance of SAIs.

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