On April 21, the international auditing community witnessed the launch of the First Online INTOSAI International Scientific and Practical Conference under the auspices of the INTOSAI Chair. More than 500 registered representatives of the Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) from 101 countries around the world, including the SAO SR, addressed the most important topics relevant to the INTOSAI community.

Aleksei Kudrin, the Chair of the INTOSAI, welcomed the participants with an opening speech and expressed gratitude that during the most complicated moments of the pandemic the INTOSAI community supported the SAIs performance that, among other things, highlighted its value to the society. “Nowadays it is necessary to build governance processes on the basis of the risk-oriented, strategic and flexible approach. INTOSAI will help the SAIs to maintain its relevance within the new circumstances and to bring even more benefits to the people.”

He recalled that the Memorandum of Understanding - the new agreement signed on April 13 between INTOSAI and the OECD - is up to allow organizations to become more effective in improving public sector transparency and accountability.

Following opening remarks by Margit Kraker, President of the Austrian Court of Audit, INTOSAI Secretary General, and Angel Gurria, Secretary-General of the OECD, the plenary session on “Public sector auditing and evolution of governance practices during and post emergency” continued.

An introduction to the main topics - the necessary adaptation of government institutions, policies and practices; the long-term development of public sector monitoring and the implementation of the goals of sustainable development in the light of the crisis – were presented by representatives of the United Nations Development Program (UN), the World Bank and the International Advocacy of the International Budget Partnership.

Similar to the first day of the Conference, the Plenary Session “Online Education: New Normal or Temporary Solution?” marked the beginning of the meeting. Nowadays education faces the new digital era and should be reconsidered to adapt to the new demands and circumstances. Speakers – the representatives from UNESCO, Delft University of the Netherlands, Google Russia, the Neuroscience and Human Behaviour Laboratory, or the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA) - discussed new normal demands for education, online educational platforms and possible synergy of online and offline formats.

Plenary Session was followed by the participants breaking into groups to discuss the most pressing issues for the audit community as a whole. On the first day, participants discussed three  issues -of Auditing Healthcare & Social Care: New Tools for the INTOSAI Community; Public Procurement and Audit Innovations: New Solutions to Old Problems; and Inclusiveness: Audit Objective or Audit Criteria.  Topics for discussion on the second day included strategic audit, data analysis in SAI performance, SAI openness, audit of SDGs. As is customary, the topics were discussed in small groups in the form of an open discussion, with each group member having the opportunity to speak their mind. A total of approximately 200 SAIs representatives took part in the discussions, which were moderated by 19 of the most reputable members of the audit community. The chosen moderators, including SAI Slovakia Communications Director later presented the most important proposals and ideas at the Closing Session.

Closing the Conference Aleksei Kudrin declared: “In the current realities it is essential for the SAIs to develop practical approaches and to use reliable tools in order to work with data and information, as well as to develop standards and establish requirements for the data provided by audited entities. It is significant to enhance cooperation with an expert community: to conduct joint educational seminars and implement more active communication policy. New circumstances form public demand for the specification of the SAIs performance on inclusiveness, as well as the SDGs implementation.”

Translation of the Conference was conducted into Russian and five official INTOSAI languages (English, Spanish, French, German, Arabic).