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Subcommittee on Peer Reviews

 

About the Subcommittee
The Subcommittee on Peer Reviews (further Sub-Committee, also previously known as Subcommittee 3: Promote best practices and quality assurance through voluntary peer reviews) was created under the scope of the INTOSAI Capacity Building Committee at its inaugural meeting in London, 13 – 14 March, 2006 with the following tasks:

  • To assess and document existing peer review arrangements in the INTOSAI community.
  • To foster an environment where such voluntary reviews are seen as beneficial to both the SAI undertaking the review and the SAI choosing to undergo it and establish global and regional mechanisms for initiating peer reviews.
  • To update the CBC guidelines on peer reviews and the developed checklist on the basis of the experience of SAIs and provide further good practices on how to undertake voluntary peer reviews.
  • To disseminate the results of peer reviews, as appropriate and as agreed to by participating SAIs.

 The Supreme Audit Office of the Slovak Republic (SAO SR) is the Sub-Committee Chair since November 2012. It predecessor was SAI of Germany chairing Sub-Committee in 2005 – 2012. SAI of Germany, as the Sub-Committee Chair, achieved to present the first INTOSAI guidance on peer reviews at the XX INCOSAI in Johannesburg, South Africa in 2010.

The role and importance of the peer review as one of the foremost capacity building tools was underlined in the first INTOSAI Strategic plan 2010 – 2016 and that position is maintained in INTOSAI Strategic plan 2017 – 2022 in its Crosscutting Priority 1. – Advocating for and supporting the independence of SAIs that states: “INTOSAI also will continue to encourage SAIs to undergo periodic peer reviews that provide vital external validations of an SAI’s quality assurance processes.” The importance of the peer review for the INTOSAI community is also underlined in the Goal 2 and Goal 3 activities within the Strategic plan 2017 – 2022.

 

One of the Sub-Committee goals – to revise the ISSAI 5600 Peer review Guide and its Annex and present them before the INTOSAI community – was fulfilled at the XXII INCOSAI in Abu Dhabi when the ISSAI 5600 was adopted by the XXII INTOSAI Congress.

 

Ongoing

PEER REVIEW ON-LINE SEMINAR IN OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2021.

The CBC Subcommittee on Peer Reviews invited all interested colleagues and parties in a survey conducted in February 2021 to an on-line seminar Getting ready for a peer review. The seminar plans to offer various themes related to practical aspects of conducting peer review in a distance format including a panel and round table discussion with a host of interesting contributions by varied personalities.

PEER REVIEW CONFERENCE IN BRATISLAVA, 20-22 JUNE 2018.

The CBC Subcommittee on Peer Reviews invited all interested colleagues and parties to a conference Motivating and equipping SAIs to carry out peer reviews, that took place in Bratislava, Slovakia. The conference offered three themes, two panel- and one round-table discussions with a host of interesting contributions by varied personalities:

  • Theme I – SAIs leading by example through carrying out peer reviews
  • Theme II – Peer review tools to improve the SAIs performance
  • Theme III – Good practices in a peer review

Please find the conference agenda here: Agenda Peer Review Conference 2018. The conference was organised with support of the Capacity Building Committee and its proceedings were translated into and from English, French and Spanish.

In 2017, the Subcommittee and its Chair  supported and performed a review of the Global peer review on independence project conducted by INTOSAI General Secretariat. SAO SR along the SAI of Norway and INTOSAI General Secretariat (INTOSAI GS) signed a trilateral MoU in 2016 to perform in 2017 an assessment of the Global peer review on independence conducted by the SAI of Austria, INTOSAI GS and other auditors from 7 relevant participating INTOSAI regions in 2016.

 

Documents - Progress reports

Anual meeting dashboard reports

Peer reviews  – dashboard report 2020

Peer reviews – dashboard report 2019

Peer reviews – dashboard report 2018

Peer reviews – dashboard report 2017

INTOSAI Pronouncement GUID 1900

GUID-1900-Peer-Review-Guidelines

 

Line 1

The Sub-Committee assesses and documents existing peer review arrangements and disseminate peer review results within the INTOSAI community

The peer review documentation administered by Sub-Committee Chair comprises of papers on peer reviews (Memoranda of Understanding, final reports, executive summaries, etc.; for all documentation available, see the CBC website and Document Library). Such documentation can serve as a pool for drawing on best practice case studies also included in GUID 1900 Peer review guidelines​. The documents are published on the Capacity Building Committee website after permission of the involved SAIs.

To manage and develop the documents, Sub-Committee carries out regular global email survey in a form of a questionnaire addressed to all INTOSAI. Using the questionnaire, Subcommittee also collects information on individual peer review projects, e.g. regarding focus, timeframe, number of staff involved, working days, key recommendations and changes based on these recommendations.

Surveys general conclusions:

The survey participants take a peer review as an opportunity to:

  • confirm good work done by the reviewed SAI;
  • uncover gaps in the reviewed SAI activities;
  • source and get ideas for continuous improvement in the given SAI audit activities and help to build the SAIs as modern institutions;
  • benefit participants in form of information, knowledge and experience exchange.

 

Line 2

Foster an environment where voluntary peer reviews are seen as beneficial

In order to promote voluntary peer reviews and general knowledge about them among the INTOSAI community and wider public, several initiatives are conducted by the Subcommittee:

  • publishing articles in the INTOSAI Journal of Government Auditing, EUROSAI web page and other electronic media;
  • giving presentations and report on peer review topics at varied fora organised by individual INTOSAI regional working groups and other national and international entities.

In 2017 and the years to follow [in the line of the INTOSAI Strategic plan 2017 – 2022, Strategic objectives for Goal 2 (Capacity Development) and Goal 3 (Knowledge Sharing and Knowledge Services)  and Crosscutting priority 3 (Ensuring effective development and coordination among standards-setting, capacity development, and knowledge sharing to support SAIs and improve their performance and effectiveness)] the Subcommittee conducts a global survey among INTOSAI members.

 

Line 3

Update the peer review guidelines and provide best practice examples

The original Peer Review Guide with Checklist adopted as ISSAI 5600 in 2010 was translated into all INTOSAI official languages and some other working versions also were made (in Bengali, Hungarian, Mandarin, Portuguese, and Slovak).

ISSAI 5600 underwent complete reconstruction since 2010. The ISSAI 5600 along other INTOSAI standards underwent a makeover and was renamed as GUID 1900 Peer review guidelines.

In the period 2017 – 2022, the Subcommittee will continue to develop and update the existing peer review documentation through global peer review surveys. 

Members
    • Austria
    • Bangladesh (Vice Chair)
    • Croatia
    • Estonia
    • European Court of Auditors
    • Hungary
    • Indonesia
    • Kuwait
    • Morocco
    • Peru
    • Philippines
    • Poland
    • Slovak Republic (Chair)
    • Sweden
    • Turkey
    • USA

     

Minutes and presentations of Subcommittee Meetings

2019 Tokyo

2017 Washington

2016 Cape Town 

2015 Stockholm

2014 Lima

2013 Bratislava

2012 Luxembourg 

2011 Vienna 

2010 Bonn 

2007 London  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Contact information

Supreme Audit Office of the Slovak Republic (Najvyšší kontrolný úrad Slovenskej republiky)

Priemyselná 2

824 73 Bratislava 26

Slovak Republic

T: +421 (2) 50 11 49 11

Internet: www.sao.gov.sk

E-mail: info@nku.gov.sk

Karol Mitrík

Chair of the Subcommittee and President of the Supreme Audit Office of the Slovak Republic T: +421 2 50 11 44 02

F: +421 2 55 42 30 05

E-mail: predseda@nku.gov.sk

E-mail: karol.mitrik@nku.gov.sk

Subcommittee issues team – Igor Ciho International Relations Division Director

T: +421 2 50 11 45 12

E-mail: info@nku.gov.sk

E-mail: igor.ciho@nku.gov.sk

Imrich Gál International Relations Division Head Counsel

T: +421 2 50 11 45 14

E-mail: imrich.gal@nku.gov.sk

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