As SAIs we aim to influence the management of public funds to ensure they impact the lives of citizens. What does this mean for the profile of an audit professional? What should they know and what should they be able to do? I began my career working on...

According to history, Publius Vergilius Maro (also known as Virgil to the English-speaking world) spent substantial time in the years 37–29 BC on a long didactic hexameter poem called Georgics (from Greek, "On Working the Earth"). The themes of the Georgics were...

When I first took over my new position as ARABOSAI General Secretariat adviser I was keen to get going and make a difference. I wanted to find out how an INTOSAI region could maximize the value of its interventions to support capacity development programs. Perhaps I...

When conducting international capacity development programs, we need to consider how to overcome differences in systems, languages and cultures between the participating countries. If I were in charge of such international programs, I would attach importance to the...

Experience of a parallel performance audit in the Western Balkans In it’s very foundation, every change means stretching, it means excursion outside the usual habits and routines we are comfortable with. This kind of journey always takes us along a bumpy road and our...

When I assumed my new role as CEO at AFROSAI-E recently, a number of topical issues, amongst others Professionalisation; Public Finance Management (PFM) reforms; SAIs operating in fragile states and SDGs, sparked excitement and enthusiasm in me.  I would like to share...

Being introduced to performance audit for the first time, you can face difficulties in mind-set, thinking that you will always have to conduct audit only in areas of specialization, and nothing else will work just as well. The concerns of conducting audits in...

When the Capacity Building Committee held its annual meeting in Washington DC earlier this year, I had the privilege to meet old friends and new colleagues in the international community and discuss how to best support the development of SAIs. One of this year’s...

Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) could count, without any doubt, among the most important pillars in national democratic systems. According to ISSAI 1 (the Lima Declaration), ISSAI 10 (the Mexico Declaration) and UN General Assembly Resolutions A/66/209 (adopted in...

We have to change to stay the same![1] This was the challenging slogan of the 2014 EUROSAI The Hague congress, underlining the importance of innovation and adaptability for our continuing relevance as Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs). With this call to arms in mind,...