108 – 3 – SUPREME AUDIT INSTITUTIONS’ INPUT INTO POLICY IMPLEMENTATION SAIs audit tax and expenditure systems for their effectiveness, efficiency and accuracy. Through compliance audits, SAIs evaluate the implementation of controls within public entities and across government, and the effectiveness of leaders in their rollout of a wider control system. Over the years, SAIs have found many deficiencies in the implementation of controls and of the budget, which point to a lack of coherence, communication and coordination amongst relevant bodies. Communication and co-ordination has therefore become a focus of many SAIs, who aim to reduce overlaps across government discovered through other audit activities. SAIs have also been active in assessing the implementation of regulatory policies, their reforms, and the effectiveness of the bodies responsible: namely regulators. Financial and compliance audits should remain a core part of a SAIs’ portfolio. However, building on the examples provided in this chapter, it is clear that there are benefits to SAIs scaling up the insight gathered in these audits and leveraging existing expertise and practices to provide commentary on the effectiveness and efficiency of policy implementation. In doing this, SAIs do not necessarily have to build knowledge and expertise of a new form of auditing (i.e. performance auditing or research), but rather incorporate value-for-money criteria into existing audit processes and repackage the way that information is presented.
Case studies of SAI activities supporting policy implementation Communicating and co-ordinating Box 3.1. The SAI of Brazil – TCU's Framework to Assess Public Policies Objective Brazil’s TCU has developed the Framework to Assess Public Policies as a way of assessing the governance of public policies. The framework’s main purpose is to guide more comprehensive auditing of cross-cutting challenges in key areas, including: development, economic and financial stability, and increased strategic investment in health, education, technological innovation and infrastructure. The framework centres on eight components: institutionalization, plans and objectives, participation, organizational capacity and resources, co-ordination and coherence, monitoring and assessment, risk management and internal control, and accountability. Each component is supported by good practice examples.
Type Audit guidance.
Scope and methodology The development of the Framework to Assess Public Policies was based on adapting existing methodological models, including:
The TCU’s own National Regional Development Policy (TCU, 2009) Governance and Sustainable Development Policies, by Guy B. Peters, that focuses on the four pillars that comprise good public governance
Characteristics of good governance for drug policy: findings from an expert consultation (UKDPC, 2010).
The Coordination of Australian Illicit Drug Policy: A Governance Perspective (NDARC, 2010).
Modern Policy-Making: Ensuring Policies Deliver Value for Money (2001)
SUPREME AUDIT INSTITUTIONS AND GOOD GOVERNANCE: OVERSIGHT, INSIGHT AND FORESIGHT © OECD 2016
