21 March 2017 Strengthening SAI capacities for auditing SDGs Kimi - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

21 March 2017 Strengthening SAI capacities for auditing SDGs Kimi Makwetu, Auditor-General of South Africa Chair: INTOSAI Capacity Building Committee

Strengthening SAI capacities for auditing SDGs  Agenda 2030 calls for business unusual – a strategic shift  Opportunity to demonstrate SAIs’ value  Agenda 2030 will be a missed opportunity for SAIs without strengthened capacities  Asses our current capacities, and rapidly address the gaps

SAI strategy for auditing the SDGs  Government’s integrated SDG strategies, planning, and new evolving risks will require SAIs to adust our own strategies  SAIs must ensure our strategic insights reach the stakeholders who matter  Our strategic priorities & budgets must reflect our SDG focus  Ensure adequate SAIs mandates – take steps to widen if necessary

Planning the auditing of SDGs  SDG audit planning ―a 12 year project requiring a long term but flexible approach  Avoid fragmented planning by means of structured following- up of gaps initially identified  Limited SAI resources requires well-structured, multi-year planning

Organising our work for auditing the SDGs  Agenda 2030 relies on integrating planning, measurement, implementation and reporting systems  SAIs’ traditional departmentalized approach to make room for multiple teams able to audit sectors and clusters  SAIs will have to consciously manage the change required – • multiple teams & leaders • new communication lines • ensure consistency • value continuous learning

Professional competencies for auditing SDGs General competencies :  Critical thinking, perspective taking and social intelligence  Research knowledge & skills  Attitude – openess and collaboration

Professional competencies for auditing SDGs Performance audit:  Agenda 2030 – an opportunity for SAIs to mature PA as a core value-adding audit disciple  Specialist expertise now more relevant than ever  Gradual introduction of specialist skills as the need unfolds

Professional competencies for auditing SDGs Environmental auditing:  Essential audit discipline given 7 environmental related SDGs  Capacity to understand environmental risks  Able to map processes and the environmental impacts in each part of the process  Exercise holistic thinking  Ability to build stakeholder partnerships

Professional competencies for auditing SDGs Information systems auditing and use of technology:  SAIs must also gear up our analytical and quantitative capacity to cope with increasingly complex and high-volume data environment of SDGs  Ability to use the correct data analysis tools across all audit teams  Use of new technology will help us work more efficiently and effectively

Professional competencies for auditing SDGs Effective communication of our messages:  Governments under immense pressure to implement are bound to make mistakes  SAIs have potentially indispensable role by helping the implementers with our professional insights  SAIs must also ensure transparency and support social inclusion  Stakeholder communication – an indispensable SAI business process

Professional competencies for auditing SDGs Capacity to lead by example:  Our credibility as SDG auditors will depend on our own accountability and capacity to function as model institutions by:  Implementing ISSAI 12  Assessing our own performance with credible tools (SAI PMF, Peer Reviews)  Demonstrating ongoing relevance as credible sources of insight owing to our strengthened capacities

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