The meeting was held on March 30, 2021 via videoconference. Over the past year the group has done significant work: it has expanded membership, finalized its main documents, carried out a number of important researches and initiated new interesting projects. WGSDG KSDI members during the meeting shared their results in auditing SDGs.

“The COVID-19 crisis has brought even more attention to the topic of sustainable development. The role of SAIs, their focus on existing risks, transparency and efficiency in decision-making could become a decisive factor in promoting the 2030 Agenda. The goals and objectives of our group are becoming increasingly important in the current situation”,

– stated Dmitry Zaitsev, Head of the WGSDG KSDI Secretariat and Member of the ACRF Board, in his welcome address and highlighted the most important issues and results.

Key results

• The National Audit Office of Estonia and Commission on Audit of Philippines – two new members joined the working group.
• The WG main document - WG SDGs KSDI Philosophy and Principles finalized. The final version was published in the second issue of the WGSDG KSDI Newsletter.
• Several online events related to the SDGs held: the Strategic Planning Leaders Forum 2020-2021, a joint AFROSAI-E and GIZ webinar for the WG Members on the PFM Reporting framework and Guidelines on audit of the reliability of macroeconomic forecasts.
• The WG joined the Community of Practice (CoP) on the SDGs that was launched by the KSC on the INTOSAI community portal. CoP keeps the members updated with recent developments, initiatives and events related to the SDGs.
• Audit surveys for SDG 4 and SDG 8: analyzing the WG Members’ experience on the SDGs audit and examining possibilities for cooperative audits.

Plans for the future 

• Organization of a training seminar for SAIs of the CIS member countries on two major topics: methodological issues (including general information about ISAM, SDG audit approaches, stages of auditing, tools used) and the key aspects of conducting preparedness audits (based on the experience of SAI Russia).
• Further development of the Guidance on Audit of Reliability of Macroeconomic Forecasts.
• Update of the GUID 5202 “Sustainable Development: The Role of Supreme Audit Institutions”.
• Cooperation with the INTOSAI Working Group on Big Data and EUROSAI.

Moreover, at the meeting Aleksei Loshkin, Head of the Control and Accounts Chamber of the Chelyabinsk region, shared the experience of his institution in auditing SDGs. The latest findings demonstrated the importance of enhancing inter-institutional cooperation and informing people about SDGs and measures taken by the executive authorities to achieve synergy between different stakeholders and boost the pace in implementing the 2030 Agenda.

Timur Makhmutov, Director of Department for International and Regional Cooperation of the ACRF, finalized the event providing the information on the forthcoming  International Scientific and Practical Conference under the Auspices of the INTOSAI Chair that will take place on April 21-22, 2021. His report was followed by an interactive vote which identified the priority topics to be discussed within the Open Discussion on SDGs of the event marking the mid-term of the ACRF Chairmanship in INTOSAI.