1. Quality Audits at Statistics Finland
Ari Tyrkkö
Eurostat WS December 2009 1

2. Background 1
Several external auditing activities concerning statistical quality - by Eurostat, IMF, UNFCCC (greenhouse gas emissions) etc.
At the organisation level:
European Statistics Code of Practice
EFQM framework based national auditing
Despite the variety of audit actions StatFi had not got any systematic and consistent auditing system targeting on all statistics production processes.
Supervisory and Control for NA
9 December 2009 2 2

3. Background 2
During 2006: StatFi took the system of Swedish origin under consideration in two projects (modifying, developing, piloting).
Feb 2007: a steering group to manage the continuous audit system at StatFi
Annually audits
200 statistical production processes to be audited.
Supervisory and Control for NA
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4. Objectives 1
The whole production process of particular statistics in question is reviewed thoroughly.
Systematic approach to evaluate and question ways of working, methods and techniques
→ development proposals
Identifying and searching best/good practices used in different statistics and spreading (by the steering group) them at the organisation level
Supervisory and Control for NA
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5. Objectives 2
Increases knowledge in networking experts from different parts of organisation, and brings more discussions to organisational culture
Supervisory and Control for NA
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6. Operational Structure
Steering group (6 members)
External collegial auditor team of 3 members from the pool of auditors
An NA expert for auditing NA source statistics
Team of persons in charge from the statistical production process (1-4 members)
The Self-assessment Form
Supervisory and Control for NA
9 December 2009 6 6

7. Operational Structure
Steering group (currently 6 members)
External collegial auditor team of 3 members from the pool of auditors
Team of persons in charge from the statistical production process (1-4 members)
The Self-assessment Form
Preparations, control and communication:
Steering group
Auditing,
Collegial procedure
Consensual procedure
Report, plan of actions, follow-up
Self-assessment,
Collection of documentation
Supervisory and Control for NA
9 December 2009 7 7

8. Self-assessment Form: Headings
Administrative information
Planning and management
Contacts with users
Staff competence (& working situations)
IT systems
Data collection
Data processing
Dissemination
Documentation and archiving
Follow-up, evaluation and improvements
Supervisory and Control for NA
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9. Operational Process
Self-assessment, collection of documentation: the statistics team collects and sends to the auditor team.
Supervisory and Control for NA
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10. Operational Process
Self-assessment, collection of documentation: the statistics team collects and sends to the auditor team.
Audit stage I: auditors familiarise themselves with the target statistical process.
Supervisory and Control for NA
9 December 2009 10 10

11. Operational Process
Self-assessment, collection of documentation: the statistics team collects and sends to the auditor team.
Audit stage I: auditors familiarise themselves with the target statistical process.
Stage II: interviews with the statistics team with the help of the self-assessment form.
Supervisory and Control for NA
9 December 2009 11 11

12. Operational Process
Self-assessment, collection of documentation: the statistics team collects and sends to the auditor team.
Audit stage I: auditors familiarise themselves with the target statistical process.
Stage II: interviews with the statistics team with the help of the self-assessment form.
Stage III: auditors write the audit report and send it to the statistics team for comments.
Supervisory and Control for NA
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13. Operational Process
Stage IV: the consensus meeting: both teams finalise together the audit report with development proposals etc.
Supervisory and Control for NA
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14. Operational Process
Stage IV: the consensus meeting: both teams finalise together the audit report with development proposals etc.
Final Report: the auditor team writes the final version and send it to the statistics team and present it to the steering group.
Final Report includes:
- general evaluation
- development proposals
- good examples
- experiences from the audit process
Supervisory and Control for NA
9 December 2009 14 14

15. Thank You! ari.tyrkko@stat.fi
Welcome to European Conference on Quality in Official Statistics
3-6 May Helsinki, Finland
q2010.stat.fi
Supervisory and Control for NA
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