| Challenges |
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Benefit |
Entry Point |
| POLITICAL |
Independence |
- By making their work visible to all stakeholders, SAIs can deepen citizens’ understanding of that work and raise support for it, thus building their reputation as a reliable source of information on public management, gaining social legitimacy, and, ultimately, strengthening their independence.
- Citizens and CSOs can monitor transparency and merit-based selection in SAI designation processes, put pressure on the legislative body when unilateral and unjustified dismissal by the executive threatens to weaken SAIs´ ability to develop their work autonomously, and raise public awareness campaigns when SAI independence is compromised.
- CSOs can advocate for a legislative agenda to strengthen SAIs’ autonomy by ensuring the automatic appropriation and approval of its budget and reduced political interference in appointing state auditors through objective selection criteria.
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- Citizen engagement in the appointment process of SAI authorities.
- Citizen engagement in promoting legislative reform.
- Citizen engagement in disseminating audit findings and information about follow-up.
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Compliance by the executive |
- CSOs can help disseminate SAI recommendations and monitor any possible inability or unwillingness of government agencies to implement them.
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- Citizen engagement in disseminating audit findings and information about follow-up.
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Compliance with audit recommendations |
- CSOs can work with SAIs to gather evidence and prove government inefficiency and malpractice.
- If audit reports are published and thoroughly disseminated, stakeholders can take the initiative and push for increased governmental accountability and responsiveness. CSOs, groups of citizens, research centers, and other actors in the public arena can use those reports to monitor the implementation of SAI recommendations, and they may build upon that information to trigger investigations by other control agencies or by the judiciary.
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- Citizen engagement in disseminating audit findings and information about follow-up.
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Mandate to develop VfM audits |
- Citizens and other stakeholders can advocate for reform in the public sphere to empower SAIs by gaining resources and capabilities to perform VfM audits.
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- Citizen engagement in promoting legislative reform.
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| TECHNICAL |
Institutional capacity |
- Various examples show that CSOs can assist SAIs in investigating, monitoring, and evaluating state-funded community programs—especially in performance audit, an area in which SAIs in developing countries are severely challenged.
- Citizens’ views can enrich SAI perspectives and methodologies when developing audits—especially in VFM audits—and thus contribute to nurturing human capacity in oversight agencies.
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- Citizen engagement in audit planning.
- Citizen engagement in the audit process.
- Citizen engagement in disseminating audit findings and information about follow-up.
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Access to information |
- As SAIs engage with various stakeholders and gain visibility in the public arena, the costs of denying information increase for audited agencies because their credibility may be eroded. Therefore, considering those external actors as allies can contribute to put pressure on state agencies so that they deliver the required information.
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- Citizen engagement in the audit process through pressure on external stakeholders (auditees).
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Follow-up mechanisms |
- Citizens and CSOs can put pressure on the legislature and executive agencies to take and enforce corrective actions, as well as help monitor the executive´s follow-up to audit reports and subsequent decisions taken by parliamentary committees.
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- Citizen engagement in disseminating audit findings and information about follow-up.
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| COMMUNICATION |
Communication with external stakeholders |
- If audit reports are effectively communicated and disseminated, stakeholders can build upon that information to trigger investigations by other control agencies or by the judiciary.
- Regular contact with journalists and explanation of the core aspects of audit reports can enable better communication to the wide audience and help enhance the visibility of SAIs’ work, which fosters governmental exposure and, ultimately, accountability.
- Interaction with citizens can improve SAIs’ operations. As the ultimate beneficiaries of public policies and services, citizens can provide valuable information regarding state functioning. They can identify areas of mismanagement, take part in monitoring governmental transparency, and even monitor compliance with audit recommendations.
- Media investigations can add significant value to audit processes, widening the scope of SAIs’ work by providing evidence about possible fraud.
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- Citizen engagement depends heavily on SAI openness and transparency toward enhancing communication with external stakeholders (which can engage at all stages of the audit cycle).
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