25 Years in French Polynesia: A Recognized Presence and Independence

Author: Jean-Luc LE MERCIER, President of the Territorial Chamber of Accounts of French Polynesia

Created in 1990, the Territorial Chamber of Accounts of French Polynesia has been based in Papeete (Tahiti) since 2000. Since then, as a supreme audit institution (SAI), it has carried out its judicial and audit functions. With a total staff of 13, including six magistrates, it contributes to informing citizens and improving local public management.

1. Work that has affirmed its independence

This independence stems both from the provisions of the Code of Financial Jurisdictions and from a program freely decided by the court, based on choices linked to the challenges facing the territory and the need for a presence across all five archipelagos. Furthermore, the relative renewal of magistrates (most of whom have been in the territory for less than three years), while sometimes difficult to manage, also contributes to this ability to approach cases with a “fresh eye.” 

In 25 years, the SAI has produced more than 270 reports on the management of Polynesian public authorities. While the Territory of French Polynesia (aka “Pays”), the local government with numerous prerogatives due to the autonomous status of French Polynesia, has been the most audited authority, the SAI has also audited many other public bodies or bodies receiving public funds (municipalities, associations, semi-public companies, etc.). With 18 reports published in 2024, the objectives related to the challenges and territorialization of controls have been achieved. This required, in a jurisdiction with modest staff resources, that each magistrate’s program be “thematized”: social and health issues are thus dealt with by the same magistrate.

For several years now, these reports have been accompanied by recommendations that enable a more effective and efficient service to be provided to citizens: in 2023, the implementation rate for these recommendations was close to 75%. 

For example, among the topics recently addressed by our SAI, those relating to “youth policy,” the “blue economy,” and the “Territory’s tourism policy”, which are the region’s primary resources, are all useful tools for decision-making at the regional level.

In addition to this work, which is now recognized throughout the Territory and receives around 250 mentions in the local press each year, the SAI of French Polynesia has been keen to work with other financial jurisdictions: the French Cour des comptes and its neighbor in Nouméa, the Territorial Chamber of Accounts of New Caledonia, on joint projects on issues that transcend the Polynesian territory. The aim is both to create common working cultures and to address issues in a more cross-cutting manner. For example, together with its New Caledonian counterpart, it has addressed issues such as “preventing violence against women” and “combating obesity among young people,” which are particularly prevalent in Oceanian societies (Polynesian and Melanesian). 

The SAI’s independence allows it to produce objective, quantified and impartial reports that provide citizens with verified and documented information, the result of several months of investigation and consultation with the entity being audited. In the age of social media, the chamber has thus assumed the status of a trusted third party that it has earned over the past 25 years among the citizens of this territory.

2. Constant innovation and adaptation 

Over the past 25 years, our SAI has evolved to adapt to a rapidly changing society. For example, it is working to be more open to the local community. 

This is particularly true of the choice of topics proposed by citizens. In this regard, the “citizen platform”, launched by the French Cour des comptes in 2022, has also been adopted by the SAI of French Polynesia. This platform allows citizens to express their views on issues that are close to their hearts. The last two topics dealt with economic issues such as “local tax exemption” and “local development tax,” the latter being perceived by citizens as one of the causes of high prices in the Territory. 

In addition, it recently broke new ground by asking the President of French Polynesia to submit three or four audit topics each year, from which one is selected by the SAI. Attentive to the concerns of citizens, the SAI of French Polynesia also wishes to remain independent and act as a partner to the country, providing expertise on issues where the latter wishes to benefit from its capacity to conduct professional, cross-cutting, and impartial analyses.

While our SAI has been able to build constructive relationships with its institutional partners and citizens over the past 25 years, it has also implemented innovations and internal changes aimed at greater diversity and inclusion. 

In this regard, the SAI has now achieved its goal of gender parity in its workforce (including among its magistrates). This necessary and legitimate move is at the heart of the overall “2025 project” led by the First President of the French Cour des comptes, Pierre Moscovici.

In order to be accessible to all Polynesians who speak Tahitian, summaries of reports have been translated into “Reo Tahiti” for the past four years. The SAI’s aim is to convey its message to everyone in the territory, a movement that is facilitated by the presence of Tahitians within the chamber’s teams.

Finally, the SAI is committed, together with its partners, to a move towards digitization, with the threefold objective of streamlining and securing exchanges, facilitating research, and drastically reducing paper consumption and therefore its environmental impact.

For 25 years, three words have guided the SAI of French Polynesia’s actions: independence, usefulness, and impartiality. 

It has been committed to providing information externally and reforming internally in order to remain in tune with societies undergoing profound changes and populations that are increasingly demanding of public decision-makers. 

Jean-Luc LE MERCIER, President of the Territorial Chamber of Accounts of French Polynesia