The Abu Dhabi Declaration
The International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI) agreed on the Abu Dhabi Declaration at the XXII INCOSAI in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. The XXII INCOSAI builds on INTOSAI’s past achievements and initiatives, which aim at enabling SAIs to help their respective governments to improve performance, enhance transparency, ensure accountability and fight corruption.
The declaration establishes key Congress outcomes and how they will guide INTOSAI in the future. The Abu Dhabi Declaration was developed within the following context:
- INTOSAI’s comprehensive strategic planning process which resulted in a new strategic plan for 2017-2022 INTOSAI’s revision of the statutes to align them more closely with the current structure, strategy and objectives
- United Nations endorsement of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which reinforces the need and demand for effective public audit and scrutiny and the action already taken by INTOSAI entities relating to auditing the implementation of the SDGs;
- Establishment of a Community Portal to facilitate the sharing of knowledge; and
- A new framework for professional pronouncements as part of standard-setting improvement process
INTOSAI intends to continue to provide a global public voice, as anchored in its Strategic Plan as the organization becomes more prominent and external facing.
The Abu Dhabi Congress echoed the Strategic Plan in the significance of making a meaningful independent audit contribution to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, with extensive plans and specific efforts towards this goal in the coming years, such as regular feedback to the community on SDG-related audit issues, and engaging with key stakeholders to follow through on its ambitions.
Citizens are the ultimate beneficiaries of public auditing and have expectation for professionalism. It is the SAIs duty to perform the highest quality audits and provide citizens with reports that support transparency, good accountability and trust in government. Making a decisive contribution to improving professionalization requires a commitment from all parts of INTOSAI to grow the professional support available to all SAIs and their staff, thereby enabling them to deliver timely, relevant high-quality products.
Efforts to enhance INTOSAI’s standard setting and achieve professionalization at the global, regional, and individual SAI levels are described in the declaration, along with the SAI Performance Measurement Framework (SAI PMF), a comprehensive tool approved at the Congress for assessing progress towards improved SAI performance.
The Governing Board, with the assistance of the Standing Committee on Emerging Issues (SCEI), the four key Committees and the General Secretariat, plays a fundamental role in monitoring progress in achieving the strategic plan, and following up as necessary. The SCEI will monitor INTOSAI’s crosscutting priorities to ensure that they are being consistently and thoroughly integrated into INTOSAI’s various strategies and programs under its strategic goals.
An accountability report will be provided at XXIII INCOSAI in 2019 on the activities undertaken and the extent to which INTOSAI is fulfilling the intention and spirit of the cross-cutting priorities, goals and objectives established in the strategic plan.
Read the Abu Dhabi declaration in its entirety here.
