Conference "Resilient SAIs for Resilient Societies"
In the context of the Belgian presidency of the European Union, on June 18, 2024, the Court of Audit of Belgium organized a high-level conference for the heads of the Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) of the EU member states. Conference was attended by delegations of SAIs from 25 EU countries, including the State Audit Office of the Republic of Croatia, the SAI of Ukraine, the European Court of Auditors, the OECD and the NATO Board of Auditors.
The central theme of the conference was resilience: "Resilient SAIs for resilient societies". Our society is increasingly faced with unstable systems and challenges such as global warming or the corona pandemic. Society, as well as supreme audit institutions, must be resilient and ready to respond to these challenges.
Resilience was discussed from four different perspectives, with fourteen speakers:
• climate change, with an emphasis on energy;
• digitization
• public finance;
• democracy, including the independence of SAIs.
Emphasis was also placed on how audits can influence societies that are more resilient and how to raise awareness of society in general. Readiness (preparedness) audits were also mentioned, that is, system efficiency audits, which would check the readiness of governments to deal with system shocks, that is, crisis situations. For the said audits, an appropriate framework (audit questions and criteria) should be developed, including capacity, structure and culture adapted to audited systems, a methodology for selecting the systems to be audited as a priority (inspired by existing international risk analyses) and also develop the practice of joint audits (European added value).
The central theme of the conference was resilience: "Resilient SAIs for resilient societies". Our society is increasingly faced with unstable systems and challenges such as global warming or the corona pandemic. Society, as well as supreme audit institutions, must be resilient and ready to respond to these challenges.
Resilience was discussed from four different perspectives, with fourteen speakers:
• climate change, with an emphasis on energy;
• digitization
• public finance;
• democracy, including the independence of SAIs.
Emphasis was also placed on how audits can influence societies that are more resilient and how to raise awareness of society in general. Readiness (preparedness) audits were also mentioned, that is, system efficiency audits, which would check the readiness of governments to deal with system shocks, that is, crisis situations. For the said audits, an appropriate framework (audit questions and criteria) should be developed, including capacity, structure and culture adapted to audited systems, a methodology for selecting the systems to be audited as a priority (inspired by existing international risk analyses) and also develop the practice of joint audits (European added value).
