Participants of the 4th Meeting of the Heads of BRICS SAIs that took place in Ufa (Republic of Bashkortostan) on July 30, met at the round table to discuss national features of regional and municipal levels audit, and share best practices in that area.

The discussion brought together representatives of the SAIs of the BRICS countries, the Republic of Belarus, regional audit institutions of the Russian constituent entities and the Sirius Federal Territory, as well as Sergey Ivanov, First Deputy Chairman of Federation Council Committee on the Budget and Financial Markets. Deputy Chair, Member of the Board Galina Izotova represented the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation. Auditor, Member of the Board of the Accounts Chamber Natalia Trunova moderated the discussion.

The round table participants reviewed national models for external regional and municipal audit, shared experiences in building relationships between systems of various levels, discussed key principles and approaches to auditing regional and municipal resource use.

Presenting the Accounts Chamber experience, Galina Izotova pointed out that the external audit model built in Russia covers all levels of the budget system and includes the federal Accounts Chamber, regional audit institutions of 89 regions and of the Sirius Federal Territory as well as audit institutions of over 2,000 municipalities. Furthermore, just like SAI Russia, regional and municipal bodies act as key elements of local parliamentary control, have a wide array of expert competences, and can serve as analytical centers for parliaments at all levels.

“We see how important it is to build up federal and regional level communications inside the parliamentary control system. Our experts work closely together with the deputies to solve most pressing socioeconomic development issues. That work enables us to structure an “end-to-end” audit model running through all levels of state governance. On average, regional and municipal audit institutions conduct about 70,000 audits and 100,000 regulation assessments a year,”

emphasized Galina Izotova.

The Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation, in turn, provides their regional and municipal peers with all possible help and assistance to make their work more effective. According to Galina Izotova, more intense international cooperation is a key factor for developing regional RAIs’ professional competences. In order to solve this very issue, at the 59th meeting of the ASOSAI Governing Board in September 2023, the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation suggested setting up a Working Group on Regional and Municipal Audit.

“The ASOSAI Governing Board members supported our initiative. The main goal of the project is to create a venue for professional interactions between SAIs and RAIs, development of inspectors’ professional capacities, and dissemination of public audit knowledge,”

said Galina Izotova.

A Special Committee was set up to determine feasibility of the Working Group. In April – June 2024, the current state and the development specifics of local auditing practices in the ASOSAI community were analyzed. The analysis uncovered a number of common problems faced by audit institutions when conducting regional inspections, regardless of national specifics, including: limited financing and manpower, disparities between local auditing practices and SAI standards; lack of effective controls over whether recommendations are followed.

“The study results suggest that the Working Group should focus on discussing and disseminating best professional audit practices, developing method guidelines, including approaches to SDG audit at the regional level. The summary report on the Special Committee’s activities, and the Working Group concept will be presented for approval to the 16th ASOSAI Assembly to take place in New Delhi in September 2024. The results there will determine if a permanent Working Group is established. I hope the support for our initiative is reaffirmed,”

concluded Galina Izotova.