Sustainable development—development that meets present needs without compromising the ability to meet future needs—can be divided into three integrated dimensions: economic, environmental and social. These aspects must be balanced if we are to achieve the United Nations (UN) "future we want." How is such balance achievable and what does it look like conceptually? This article discusses...
At the September 2015 United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Summit, Heads of State, including the Slovak Republic, adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which included 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)—global goals establishing objectives across economic, environmental and social dimensions to be achieved by 2030. All 17 SDGs are equally important and cover 169 universally applicable thematic targets. Based on national circumstances...
Information Technology (IT) audits are often complex, and audit outcomes tend to result in technical reports written in technical language. As noted in International Standards of Supreme Audit Institutions (ISSAI) 5300, very few people find such lengthy and complicated documents appealing or understandable. The Supreme Audit Institution (SAI) of Argentina has...
The Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation (Accounts Chamber), Russia's Supreme Audit Institution (SAI), recently began using an Information Analysis System (IAS) integrated with government entity databases to conduct remote audits. The SAI's experience underscores benefits to using such an approach and identifies requirements for implementation. As government entities increasingly use information technology to fulfill missions, audit agencies may consider...
Data has become a prominent auditing buzzword—as revealed through the increased use of the term throughout the global accountability community to include the International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI) and its member Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs). While data opens up new possibilities for SAIs...
Controlling and assuring quality can be challenging, particularly in environments where resources are limited, since quality involves systems and processes aimed at ensuring SAIs issue reports that are appropriate and in accordance with applicable laws and regulations. Creating a central, dedicated quality office is essential—it allows a SAI to focus on...
Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) represent important mechanisms in safeguarding public resources, and the broad authorities of the Comptroller of Israel are intended to, among other things, strengthen good governance. However, evaluating public audit effectiveness and its ability to enhance good governance is complex and often difficult, if not impossible. This article explores modeling to examine audit effectiveness, including...
The State Audit Office of Vietnam (SAV) issues audit reports at every audit's conclusion, yet judging and comparing quality among various audits is a difficult task. Some research cites audit quality as the ability for auditors to detect and report material misstatements during the audit process. This ability is highly dependent on auditor proficiency and independence, particularly when misstatements may be derived from fraud. While several studies have focused on providing solutions to improve audit quality, these solutions do not facilitate...
The creation of the International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI) Working Group on Big Data speaks to the increased attention to enhanced data analytics. While much consideration has focused on quantitative techniques, this article highlights qualitative analysis, its relevance and ability to complement quantitative methods used in Supreme Audit Institution (SAI) work. Though they contribute differently to an audit (broadly defined to also include evaluation), quantitative and qualitative methods share a common purpose...
Research suggests a principal cause of fraud to be a weak, limited internal control system.An internal control system aims to (1) comply with legal, technical and administrative order; (2) promote an entity’s efficiency and effectiveness; (3) guarantee information reliability and timeliness; and...