Tag: resilience

In every region across the globe, climate change is driving extreme weather events like heatwaves, heavy rainfall, and drought to increase and intensify, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.(1) These extreme weather events have led to natural disasters which have cost lives, displaced people, devastated economies, and racked up billions of dollars in damages.(2)

The threat of climate change looms large in today’s world of rapid global change, altering the social, economic, and environmental landscapes at a rate never seen before. As the effects of this global catastrophe become more obvious, it is critical that communities and organizations fully recognize, evaluate, and manage the risks involved. This thorough research uses real-world case studies and scenarios to provide a greater knowledge of this important topic as it investigates the key role that auditing plays in assessing the effect, risk, and resilience of entities in the face of climate change.

In September 2017, the Caribbean Island of St. Maarten experienced a catastrophic natural disaster as Hurricane Irma made landfall. The aftermath saw the island’s infrastructure significantly damaged or destroyed. Except for the military, communication, such as the Internet and mobile networks, were available intermittently, leading to sporadic contact with external entities. Efforts were quickly made to evacuate tourists and other visitors from the island while coordinating the arrival of humanitarian aid to provide shelter, food, and support to the impacted residents.

Like many places in the Intertropical Convergence Zone, the French territory of New Caledonia is affected by potentially destructive climatic hazards. These include cyclones and periods of drought or heatwaves that exacerbate forest fires. However, what we know about the impact of climate change on New Caledonia is still insufficient.

Small Island Developing States (SIDS) are in the forefront of climate change facing the impacts first. This article sheds light on the INTOSAI Working Group on Environmental Auditing (WGEA) activities in the area, the challenges in the PASAI WGEA regions, as well as special challenges from one of the most low-lying nations in the world, the Maldives.

Climate change is one of the prevalent environmental issues that the world is facing nowadays. It is one of the greatest challenges faced by humanity, as it affects every country and has devastating effects on communities and individuals. Climate change is a significant shift on temperature, precipitation, and climate that leads to increasing sea level, warmer temperature, flood and also gradual changes on species and other organism habitat.

SAI Thailand utilizes the FAIR concept (flexibility, agility, information technology, and resilience) to confront the post-pandemic environment for public sector auditing.

SAIs in difficult circumstances have often demonstrated considerable creativity and resilience during the pandemic. INTOSAI’s Capacity Building Committee workstream on Auditing in Complex and Challenging Contexts (ACCC) has sought to capture some of this richness in its new infographic on Getting Connected. The document is not a classic how-to manual, but rather a…

I was Vice President of the Brazilian Federal Court of Accounts (TCU) when COVID-19 broke out worldwide, posing extraordinary challenges to people and organizations. However, this was not the first time I had faced adversity. Having lived through difficult historical periods in Brazilian history, such as the years of military dictatorship, I have been…

Natural disasters, such as hurricanes, flooding, and wildfires, have the potential to devastate people’s everyday lives by causing injuries and death, destroying homes and infrastructure, and wreaking economic havoc. From 2000 through 2019, there were 7,348 major disaster events worldwide, which claimed 1.23 million lives, affected 4.2 billion people (many more than once), and resulted in approximately U.S. $2.97 trillion in global economic losses. Governments usually lead recovery efforts by…

Among the many drastic changes wrought by the COVID-19 crisis has been the sudden shift to a virtual work environment. At the start of the pandemic, some audit offices had already made significant strides toward enabling remote work, while others conducted work primarily in-person, whether to build a collaborative work culture, ensure safe handling of sensitive documents, or due to limited information technology infrastructure or other reasons. The pandemic has presented..

Pacific Island Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs), many of which are very small in comparison with SAIs in other regions, face an array of challenges. These range from issues related to serving small populations, like a high risk of perceived conflicts of interest and difficulty recruiting and retaining qualified staff, to grave threats like the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change. Given these challenges, it can be tempting for SAIs in the Pacific Association of SAIs (PASAI) region to…

When the COVID-19 pandemic struck, the United Kingdom’s National Audit Office (UK NAO) was able to effectively carry on its work by quickly pivoting to remote auditing and using technology to build relationships within the agency and around the world. Indeed, many auditors continued to conduct audits and publish audit reports without ever meeting their teams or clients in person. Aspects of UK NAO’s operations were not the only things to change. The Supreme Audit Institution’s (SAI) portfolio of work also…

As the world deals with a global health crisis, the immense importance of strong and resilient public health systems to achieving United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 3 (SDG 3)—ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages—has never been more evident. Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) have a key role to play in addressing the deepening inequalities during such pandemics and in ensuring vulnerable segments of the population are not left behind. To that end, the INTOSAI Development Initiative (IDI), in collaboration with the regional secretariats and Knowledge Sharing and Knowledge Services Committee (KSC), is…

As difficult as the COVID-19 pandemic has been, one of its gifts is the opportunity to reflect on progress made and prepare for the challenges that lie ahead. With staff that are experiencing the impact of the pandemic on a daily basis, leaders of Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) must first and foremost…

“Auditors build trust, help shore up government resilience and are indispensable in the fabric of good governance.” Jeffrey Schlagenhauf, Deputy Secretary-General for the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), opened the OECD Auditors Alliance virtual meeting on September 23, 2020, welcoming worldwide attendees in contributing to…

The COVID-19 Pandemic has, more than ever, tested the resilience of both Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) and governments and has had multi-dimensional impacts on society. This situation has created a need for SAIs to…

The National Intergovernmental Audit Forum (NIAF) is pleased to announce there is no-cost space available to participate in the 23rd Biennial Forum of Government Auditors July 28-30, 2020! As the COVID-19 Pandemic has posed…