REPUBLIQUE DU CAMEROUN
Paix – Travail – Patrie
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PRESIDENCE DE LA REPUBLIQUE
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SERVICES DU CONTRÔLE SUPERIEUR DE L’ETAT
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SECRETARIAT GENERAL DE L’AFROSAI
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AFROSAI GENERAL SECRETARIAT
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INCOSAI XXII
AFROSAI Regional Paper
Theme I : Sustainable Development Goals
« How INTOSAI can contribute to the UN post 2015 agenda
including good governance in order to strengthen the fight
against corruption? »
Contents
Summary .................................................................................................. 3
African Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions .................................. 6
1. General comments on the four approaches as identified by INTOSAI. 8
2. Approach n°1 « Assessing the readiness of national systems to report
on progress towards the achievement of the SDGs, and subsequently
audit their operation and the reliability of the data they produce» .......... 9
3. Approach n°2 « Undertaking performance audits that examine the
economy, efficiency, and effectiveness of key government programmes
that contribute to specific aspects of the SDGs » .................................... 11
4. Approach n°3 « Assessing and supporting the implementation of SDG
16 which relates in part to transparent, efficient, and accountable
institutions » ........................................................................................... 13
5. Approach n°4 « Being models of transparency and accountability in
their own operations, including auditing and reporting » ....................... 15
2
Summary
AFROSAI is one of the seven INTOSAI Regional Organizations and the
mother body of the 53 SAIs on the African continent. AFROSAI aims
fundamentally at fostering close co-operation amongst its members within
the framework of INTOSAI and forging an African regional integration.
This paper presents the position of the AFROSAI Region on the 1st
technical theme to be discussed at the INCOSAI XXII. Taking into
consideration the central roles of INTOSAI and its member SAIs in
promoting good governance and accountability, AFROSAI considers the four
approaches to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as globally
relevant.
Approach n°1 « Assessing the readiness of national systems to report on
progress towards the achievement of the SDGs, and subsequently audit
their operation and the reliability of the data they produce»
Noting that progress towards the SDGs will rely on the effectiveness
of the monitoring and reporting systems, it will be important for
governments to establish robust and reliable systems. The approach could
become particularly relevant if SAIs, in-line with their legislation,
could
engage the relevant role-players during the process of establishing effective
reporting and monitoring systems to provide insight.
In the regional context,Data collection can prove to be a challenge
because Governments struggle to set up sound and reliable monitoring
systems, and statistics departments do not always produce reliable data
3
Approach n°2 « Undertaking performance audits that examine the
economy, efficiency, and effectiveness of key government programmes
that contribute to specific aspects of the SDGs »
Achieving the SDGs will require governments to provide public
services efficiently and effectively, at all levels of government. In that
regard, performance audits will be crucial to assess the effectiveness, the
efficiency and the economy of government’s programs contributing to the
SDGs
AFROSAI Region can play a key role in implementing this approach since
most of its member SAIs have the mandate to conduct Performance Audits
and we can already note that joint, coordinated or parallel performance
audits have already been conducted at the regional and sub-regional level.
Approach n°3 « Assessing and supporting the implementation of SDG 16
which relates in part to transparent, efficient, and accountable
institutions »
Most African countries are aiming to achieve more transparency and
efficiency, through the promotion of good governance and accountability.
With regards to the role of SAIs in assessing and supporting the
implementation of SDG 16, the Regional Group can contribute at three
levels.
Firstly by supporting the SAIs in their advocacy for the improvement
of public financial management, including the accounting frameworks.
4
Secondly, the regions can facilitate widening the audit scope to
include the audit of performance information.
And finally, by using the audit results from the SAIs to provide
regional analysis to identify common challenges to financial management
and good governance.
Approach n°4 « Being models of transparency and accountability
in their own operations, including auditing and reporting »
SAIs need to “walk the talk” and lead by example in continuously
demonstrating good governance. Therefore, in line with ISSAI 12 and ISSAI
20, SAIs need to be models of transparency and accountability by reporting
on their own performance and operations.
In that regard, the SAI-PMF is a useful tool and AFROSAI is very
appreciative of the introduction of indicators for the SAIs with judicial
powers (which account for almost half of the SAIs within the Region) in the
latest version of the SAI PMF.
AFROSAI also acknowledges the existence of other tools within the
Region that can be used to assess the performance of SAIs, as it is the case
with the ICBF (Institutional Capacity Building Framework) which is used in
the AFROSAI-E sub-region or the CREFIAF Framework for a viable SAI, which
was adopted in 2010.
5
The African Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions
Created in November 1976 in Yaoundé, Cameroon, AFROSAI is one of
the seven INTOSAI Regional Organizations and the mother body of the 53
SAIs on the African continent.
According to its statutes, AFROSAI aims fundamentally at fostering
close co-operation amongst its members within the framework of INTOSAI
and forging an African regional integration.
AFROSAI members SAIs are divided in three Sub-Regions or Linguistic
Sub-groups: AFROSAI-A (Group of Arabic Speaking African SAIs), AFROSAI-E
(Group of English Speaking African SAIs) and
AFROSAI-F or CREFIAF (Group of French
Speaking African SAIs).
AFROSAI
member
SAIs
operate
according to three different models. Most of
the SAIs (Apart from Mozambique which is
from the Court Model) within the AFROSAIE Sub-Region are from the Westminster
Model, whereas the majority of SAIs in the AFROSAI-A and AFROSAI-F SubRegions are from Napoleonic or Judicial Model. In addition, a small number
of SAIs (6) within the AFROSAI-F Sub-Region is operating according to the
General Inspectorate Model, which is specific to French Speaking Africa.
As an Organization, AFROSAI is operating according to its statutes
with its General Assembly (comprising all the Member SAIs), its Governing
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Board, its three linguistic sub-Groups (AFROSAI-A, AFROSAI-E and AFROSAIF), its Technical Committees and Working Groups, and its General
Secretariat, hosted by SAI Cameroon.
AFROSAI is currently implementing its 2015-2020 strategic plan,
which is structured around three strategic priorities, namely: capacity
building, knowledge sharing and turning AFROSAI into a model
organization.
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1. General comments on the four approaches as
identified by INTOSAI
1.1
This paper presents the position of the AFROSAI Region on the 1st
technical theme to be discussed at the INCOSAI XXII. Taking into
consideration the central roles of INTOSAI and its member SAIs in
promoting good governance and accountability, AFROSAI considers
the four approaches to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as
globally relevant. In fact, without a well-functioning public finance
system the achievement of the SDGs are at risk.
1.2
In fact, considering the specific challenges faced by the African
Continent in terms of strengthening accountability, improving public
financial management and fighting against corruption and; following
the mixed results achieved at the continental level with regards to
the MDGs (Millennium Development Goals), there is a need to
considerably increase the involvement of SAIs if the SDGs are to be
fully implemented.
1.3
AFROSAI views the SDGs as an opportunity for rethinking the
engagement of SAIs in auditing government operations and
governance questions. It also offers the possibility to contribute to
specific issues plaguing the continent such as Illicit Financial Flows
and climate change. Such an approach would leverage the strengths
of the SAIs and would be a constructive approach to changing the
reality around us that prevents development.
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2. Approach n°1 « Assessing the readiness of national
systems to report on progress towards the achievement of
the SDGs, and subsequently audit their operation and the
reliability of the data they produce»
2.1
This is a very relevant approach in the AFROSAI Context. Noting that
progress towards the SDGs will rely on the effectiveness of the
monitoring and reporting systems, it will be important for
governments to establish robust and reliable systems. The approach
could become particularly relevant if SAIs, in-line with their
legislation,
could engage the relevant role-players during the
process of establishing effective reporting and monitoring systems to
provide insight.
2.2
In the regional context, some challenges exist in the implementation
of this approach. Data collection can prove to be a challenge because
Governments struggle to set up sound and reliable monitoring
systems, and statistics departments do not always produce reliable
data. In addition, the potential of new technologies and engagement
with external stakeholders to gather data is not leveraged in the
region, which calls for exploring new ways of using IT and engaging
with citizens.
2.3
With regards to the SAIs involvement, their level of independence is
critical for the implementation of this approach because it will
increase the credibility of their reporting, and due consideration
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should be given to their levels of capacity and maturity which may
differ across the Continent.
2.4
This provides room for AFROSAI and its organs (Sub-regions, Working
Groups and Technical Committees) to support their SAIs in assessing
the readiness of systems and data to be used by governments. This
could include developing and providing expertise to SAIs on Data
collection and/or developing guidelines and research on how to
understand the readiness of the national systems and; how best to
audit national monitoring and reporting systems.
2.5
The Region can also gather information and insights from member
SAIs on cross-cutting issues affecting the development, feasibility and
robustness of national reporting mechanisms for the SDGs, for
consolidation in a periodic INTOSAI-led review. This could include
undertaking baseline research on the current state of monitoring and
reporting systems (e.g. what systems were set up to monitor the
MDGs?) or documenting and compiling the results of the
assessments done at the SAI level.
2.6
AFROSAI can also identify opportunities for INTOSAI to strengthen
capacity, introduce standards and guidance, and foster collaboration
and knowledge sharing on the audit of national systems and data
used for the monitoring and reporting on SDGs, by providing a
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platform enabling knowledge sharing at the regional/sub regional
level and conveying the output at INTOSAI level.
2.7
SAIs can at national level take up the SDG momentum to lobby for
their space in their national development agendas, to review
priorities and to mainstream SDGs into their audit plans.
2.8
Finally, AFROSAI can engage with external stakeholders by
advocating for more SAI Independence and by providing inputs based
on the results of research and expertise developed.
3. Approach n°2 « Undertaking performance audits that
examine the economy, efficiency, and effectiveness of key
government programmes that contribute to specific
aspects of the SDGs »
3. 1
Given the new trends in public financial management, this approach
appears to be highly relevant because achieving the SDGs will require
governments to provide public services efficiently and effectively, at
all levels of government. In that regard, performance audits will be
crucial to assess the effectiveness, the efficiency and the economy of
government’s programs contributing to the SDGs.
3. 2
AFROSAI Region can play a key role in implementing this approach
since most of its member SAIs
have the mandate to conduct
Performance Audits. Even though, there is gap among AFROSAI
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member SAIs, where some SAIs have a long-standing experience
undertaking performance audits, while other have SAIs have yet to
start implementing performance audits, we can already note that
joint, coordinated or parallel performance audits have already been
conducted at the regional and sub-regional level.
3. 3
As such, there are some existing structures that can support joint or
coordinated performance audits at the Regional and sub-regional
levels, as was the case in the joint audit of Lake Chad or in the
Extractive Industry Audit. The Region can therefore assist member
SAIs with experts and guidance on how to conduct joint audits and;
the Region can undertake quality assurance activities on joint or
coordinated performance audits.
3. 4
To create more impact, a joint planning exercise could be carried out
at the Regional or Sub-Regional Level to see how within a timeframe
the Region can cover the SDGs or alternatively to determine which
SDGs are the most crucial and need to be covered.
3. 5
Ultimately, the Region should develop a process to aggregate the
results of performance audits and produce regional reports. The
results and findings of those audits could then be transformed into
messages that can be communicated to the INTOSAI and relevant
stakeholders such as the African Union, the United Nations or the
donor community.
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4. Approach n°3 « Assessing and supporting the
implementation of SDG 16 which relates in part to
transparent, efficient, and accountable institutions »
4.1
This approach seems particularly relevant and timely, because as it
was stressed earlier, most African countries are aiming to achieve
more transparency and efficiency, through the promotion of good
governance and accountability.
4.2
With regards to the role of SAIs in assessing and supporting the
implementation of SDG 16, the Regional Group can contribute at
three levels. Firstly by supporting the SAIs in their advocacy for the
improvement of public financial management, including the
accounting frameworks. Secondly, the regions can facilitate widening
the audit scope to include the audit of performance information. And
finally, by using the audit results from the SAIs to provide regional
analysis to identify common challenges to financial management and
good governance.
4.3
In the area of advocacy for the improvement of the public financial
management, the AFROSAI-E sub-region and its member SAIs have
already establish a dialogue with the other actors of the PFM, such as
the Accounting Bodies/the PACs, and other actors of the Control
system. This movement has not yet taken place in the Frenchspeaking region, and the role of the AFROSAI-Region should be to
facilitate a similar process.
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4.4
With regards to the audit of performance information, most African
countries are required to report on performance information, and in
the AFROSAI-E sub region, SAIs have already started to carry out such
audits with the support of the Secretariat. Even though this process
needs to be fine-tuned, this approach could also be duplicated in the
other countries of the Region and lay the foundation for the use of
audit results for the consolidation of the audits results at the regional
level.
4.5
A useful exercise to understand the main challenges of public
finances in the region, would be to develop a “heat map” of the
public finance management system, identifying the “risk factors” that
need particular attention, and based on this develop templates to
audit the PFM system. The audit results can also be transformed into
messages and enable the Region to provide recommendations and
advice on PFM to relevant stakeholders.
4.6
In the 2015 the AFROSAI-E sub-group included questions in its
annual Institutional Capacity Building Framework (ICBF) selfassessment questionnaire to gather baseline information on the
capacity of SAIs in the region to audit and report to the National
Assembly or another appropriate body on the adequacy and
comprehensiveness of the government systems and process aimed at
the achievement of the SDGs. The outcomes indicate that most SAIs
have a sufficiently broad mandate but, the main challenges SAIs have
include a lack of technical capacity and funding constraints. Annual
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assessments of this nature can provide valuable information on the
readiness of SAIs to assess the implementation of the SDGs.
5. Approach n°4 « Being models of transparency and
accountability in their own operations, including auditing
and reporting »
5.1
SAIs need to “walk the talk” and lead by example in continuously
demonstrating good governance. Therefore, in line with ISSAI 12 and
ISSAI 20, SAIs need to be models of transparency and accountability
by reporting on their own performance and operations.
5.2
In that regard, the SAI-PMF is a useful tool and AFROSAI is very
appreciative of the introduction of indicators for the SAIs with judicial
powers (which account for almost half of the SAIs within the Region)
in the latest version of the SAI PMF. However, its full application to
the SAIs within the AFROSAI region can be demanding for a variety of
reasons, including the fact that the assessment can be time
consuming, costly, resource demanding and difficult to repeat on a
yearly basis. In addition, the publication of reports coming from this
assessment can prove to be an issue.
5.3
AFROSAI also acknowledges the existence of other tools within the
Region that can be used to assess the performance of SAIs, as it is the
case with the ICBF (Institutional Capacity Building Framework) which
is used in the AFROSAI-E sub-region. The ICBF is a self-assessment
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tool that provides information on SAI and regional-level progress
within the five domains of the framework. Quality Assurance support
visits are conducted on three-yearly bases to verify the results. The
self-assessment levels on the domains range from level 0-5. The
regional target is to achieve level three and above on the ICBF. As can
be observed from the results published in the 2015 Transversal
Activity Report, on aggregate there has been a significant movement
within the five domains within the AFROSAI-E region.
DOMAINS
5,00
4,00
3,00
2,00
1,00
0,00
Independence &
Legal Framework
Organization &
Management
2013
Human Resources Audit Standards & Communication &
Methodology
Stakeholder
Management
2014
2015
Average self-assessed level for the AFROSAI-E region (Comparison between domains 2013 to 2015).
Source: AFROSAI-E 2015 Transversal Activity Report.
5.4
The CREFIAF Sub-region adopted in 2010, during its 2nd Extraordinary
General Assembly, the framework for viable SAI which is tool that
should help assess the performance of member SAIs in five domains,
namely: the independence and legal framework (1), the relationships
with the Legislative, the Executive, the Judiciary and the other
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stakeholders (2), the Internal Governance and Management (3), the
Human Resources (4), and the standards and methodology.
5.5
Prior to the adoption of this framework which consists of 5 domains,
15 sub-domains, 36 standards and 147 criteria, an assessment of the
current situation (in 2010) of CREFIAF’s member SAIs had been
carried out and a strategy had been laid out to support the SAIs in
reaching the status of the viable SAI.
5.6
Therefore the Region supports the principle of the creation of a
global SAI performance measurement framework, but this global tool
should accommodate Regional and Sub Regional specificities. In that
light, the role of the Region would not be to assess the performance
of their members, but to promote and support self-assessment/peer
reviews and then collate the information or results of the assessment
into a joint report.
5.7
To support the implementation of this approach, the Region should
report on their members’ performance and both from an internal
and an external perspective. As such, the reporting could be directed
towards the Regional Organs (General Assembly, Governing Board),
INTOSAI and External stakeholders.
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Conclusion
AFROSAI Region is strongly committed to contribute to the
achievement of the United Nations Agenda for Sustainable Development,
by implementing the 4 approaches identified by INTOSAI and putting them
in the Regional perspective.
In addition, as it was highlighted by the Auditors-Generals of the
AFROSAI-E Sub-Region during their annual Governing Board Meeting in
2016, the Region can take the following steps to actively contribute in the
robust discussions that are so critical to making a success of the newly
envisaged UN sustainable development goals (SDGs):
 critically analysing the root causes that underpin the challenges
experienced with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs),
especially as it related to governance failings in this initiatives and
pro-actively advocating that proper governance, as evidenced by
the work that SAIs do, is a critical foundation for the success of
the SDGs,
 bringing to bear the wealth of information from our audits, that's
already publically available through our audit reports, that can
inform the challenges related to implementing the SDGs,
 fearlessly having those discussions on challenges relating to SDGs
that we are all aware of, and that's critical to the success of this
initiative, but are often too scared to engage in,
 elevating the work done on fraud and corruption in our SAIS, in
the context of enabling the SDGs,
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 actively partnering with other bodies, both in the field of
accounting and auditing, and beyond that, to work to surface
challenges and enablers to the SDGs, and to action these, and
 investing heavily in our own ability, in our SAIs, to lead by example
in how we conduct our own business.
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