Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) have a crucial role to play in strengthening the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and ensuring that a country’s budget is on track. Checking and reporting on the legality and accuracy of public accounts, as well as the credibility of budgets, can be instrumental in governments delivering on their sustainable development promises and realizing the SDG targets. The importance of budget credibility is recognized in SDG indicator 16.6.1 and is relevant across all SDGs. Lack of credibility of the planning and budgeting processes can compromise the delivery of critical services necessary for attainment of the SDGs, and more broadly inhibit the transformation towards sustainable and resilient societies.
“Strengthening Budget Credibility through External Audits: An Auditor’s Handbook” – the output of a two-year collaboration between Supreme Audit Institutions, civil society, international organizations, and other public finance experts – explores different approaches to auditing budget credibility. Drawing on SAIs’ experience in different regions, the result is a practical overview of existing and potential audit work that can contribute to improving budget credibility.
This webinar series creates a platform where SAIs and other stakeholders can share knowledge and experiences on budget credibility, and discuss the strategies and practical ways in which the approaches illustrated in the handbook can be implemented and institutionalized.
A sound Public Financial Management (PFM) system is essential to ensuring an effective state that delivers goods and services to its citizens. Improving the effectiveness of the PFM system can generate widespread and long-lasting benefits and may in turn help to reinforce wider societal shifts towards more inclusive and effective institutions. Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) have a crucial mandate to scrutinize government transactions to ensure accountability of public funds. External audits on the performance of the PFM system can shed light on whether and how the institutional arrangements in place are contributing to budget credibility.
This session will discuss the main entry points for SAIs to assess the performance of PFM processes and activities. The session will consider the international standards, available diagnostic tools and methodologies auditors can use and the challenges they encounter when assessing the PFM system. The session will also highlight the benefits and impacts of auditing the performance of the PFM system.
