Performance audit of government’s response to environmental problems

Examples of audit areas and topics

Developed by Louis Heunisfrom the AFROSAI-E Secretariat

Presentation: Lars Florin, AFROSAI-E Secretariat

Environmental audit

XX INCOSAI in Johannesburg, South Africa 2010:

SAIs are encouraged to include the most relevant environmental issues in their audit

Environmental auditing embraces: • financial audit• compliance audit • performance audit

Performance audit of environmental topics

Challenges It may not be obvious how to address environmental topics

with performance audits Understand environmental threats and problems Understand the governments responses to mitigate the threats and problems Identify problems with the economy, efficiency and effectiveness in

governments responses

It may be difficult to orientate in the extensive materials Can involve many actors – avoid too high complexity Focus on better use of existing resources, rather than shortage

of resources Plan, design, execute and report the environmental audit – as

any performance audit

Purpose of the guide

• Provide an overview of environmental problems and governments’ responses

• Give examples of problems with economy, efficiency and effectiveness in government activities or programmes aiming at preventing/mitigating environmental problems

• Make it easier for SAIs to identify relevant environmental audit topics for performance audits

• Provide links to INTOSAI materials and reports in the region – materials that can be used to inspire and guide performance audits of environmental topics

Content of the guide

Auditing public sector response to environmental problems Planning the performance audit of environmental topics Identify the main environmental problems in the chosen area (water, energy) Map the government’s response to the environmental problems in the area Choose audit problems and priorities (economy, efficiency and effectiveness) Design the audit The nature of the environmental problems in the seven areas Special problems Africa in theses areas Who to audit - the role and responsibilities of the public sector What to audit – examples of problems/issues that can be addressed Links to known audits in the AFROSAI-E region Links to INTOSAI reference materials

Environmental audit

Be inspired and guided by INTOSAI publications:1. Auditing Water Issues: Experiences of Supreme Audit

Institutions (2004)

2. Towards Auditing Waste Management (2004)

3. Auditing Biodiversity: Guidance for Supreme Audit Institutions (2007)

4. Auditing Mining: Guidance for Supreme Audit Institutions, 2010

5. Auditing Forests: Guidance for Supreme Audit Institutions, 2010

6. Auditing Sustainable Fisheries: Guidance for Supreme Audit Institutions, 2010

7. Auditing Sustainable Energy: Guidance for Supreme Audit Institutions, 2010

Performance audits in the region

And by performance audit reports carried out in the region (the ones we know of): Water: South Africa, Tanzania Waste: Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Biodiversity: ? Mining: South Africa Forests: Mauritius, Zimbabwe (on-going) Fisheries: Botswana, South Africa Energy: Botswana, Lesotho