| International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions | |
| Abbreviation: | INTOSAI |
| Type: | IGO |
| Headquarters: | Vienna, Austria |
| Leader Title: | Secretary General |
| Leader Name: | Margit Kraker[1] |
The International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI) is an intergovernmental organization whose members are supreme audit institutions. Nearly every supreme audit institution in the world is a member of INTOSAI. Depending on the type of system used in their home country, the members of INTOSAI may be variously titled the Chief Financial Controller, the Office of the Comptroller General, the Office of the Auditor General, the Court of Accounts, or the Board of Audit.
INTOSAI holds a triennial conference entitled the International Congress of Supreme Audit Institutions (INCOSAI).It publishes the quarterly International Journal of Government Auditing and publishes guidelines and international standards on auditing.
INTOSAI was founded in 1953 in Havana, Cuba. Thirty-four audit organizations formed the group originally and as of 2010 the current membership includes 193 institutions (188 national institutions, the European Court of Auditors and 4 associated members).
The members of INTOSAI are the primary external auditors of the United Nations. The UN's General Assembly appoints the UN Board of Auditors (3 members appointed for 6 years) among the INTOSAI member representatives.[2]
The International Standards of Supreme Audit Institutions (ISSAI) are a benchmark for auditing public entities (External Audit Standards for public entities).
The "INTOSAI Auditing Standards" had been approved by the INCOSAI in 1998 and updated in 2001. In its strategic plan 2005–2010, the INTOSAI decided to "provide an up-to-date framework of professional standards", so the INTOSAI Professional Standards Committee decided to merge the existing and new INTOSAI standards and guidelines into a framework.
The framework comprises all documents endorsed by INCOSAI with the purpose of guiding the professional standards used by SAIs
The list of ISSAIs is in the table below:
| Hierarchical level of the text | ISSAI series | Name | Notes and Links and) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Level 1: Founding Principles | ISSAI 1 | The Lima Declaration (endorsed 1977) | Comprehensive precepts on auditing in the public sector | ||
| Level 2: Prerequisites | ISSAI 10-40 | Prerequisites for the Functioning of Supreme Audit Institutions |
| ||
| Level 3: Fundamental Auditing Principles | ISSAI 100-400 | Basic Principles, General Standards, Field Standards (endorsed 2001), and Reporting Standards | |||
| Level 4: Auditing Guidelines | ISSAI 1000-1810 | Financial Audit Guidelines | Financial_Audit_Guidelines_E.pdf | ||
| ISSAI 3000-3100 | Performance Audit Guidelines | ||||
| ISSAI 4000-4200 | Compliance Audit Guidelines | ||||
| ISSAI 5000-5010 | Guidelines on auditing International Institutions | ||||
| ISSAI 5100-5140 | Guidelines on Environmental Audit | ||||
| ISSAI 5200-5240 | Guidelines on Privatisation | ||||
| ISSAI 5300-5399 | guidelines on IT-audit | ||||
| ISSAI 5400-5499 | Guidelines on Audit of Public Debt | ||||
| ISSAI 5500-5599 | Guidelines on Audit of Disaster-related Aid | ||||
| ISSAI 5600-5699 | Guidelines on Peer Reviews | ||||
| INTOSAI GOVs 9100 - 9230 | Internal Control and Accounting Standards | www.issai.org/media(891,1033)/Internal_Control_Standards.pdf |
Financial audit focuses on determining whether an entity’s financial information is presented in accordance with the applicable financial reporting and regulatory framework. This is accomplished by obtaining sufficient and appropriate audit evidence to enable the auditor to express an opinion as to whether the financial information is free from material misstatement due to fraud or error.
Performance audit focuses on whether interventions, programmes and institutions are performing in accordance with the principles of economy, efficiency and effectiveness and whether there is room for improvement. Performance is examined against suitable criteria, and the causes of deviations from those criteria or other problems are analysed. The aim is to answer key audit questions and to provide recommendations for improvement.
Compliance audit focuses on whether a particular subject matter is in compliance with authorities identified as criteria. Compliance auditing is performed by assessing whether activities, financial transactions and information are, in all material respects, in compliance with the authorities which govern the audited entity. These authorities may include rules, laws and regulations, budgetary resolutions, policy, established codes, agreed terms or the general principles governing sound public sector financial management and the conduct of public officials.
In addition to the INTOSAI members (the Supreme Audit Institutions), the following intergovernmental organizations have adopted INTOSAI AS:
The Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) is among the five associated members of the INTOSAI.[6] The INTOSAI is a strong advocate for the establishment of Independent Internal audit in public entities.
The guidance "INTOSAI GOV 9100" states:
European Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions
| INCOSAI | Place | Date | Host | Information | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| I | Havana, Cuba | November 1953 | Ministry of Auditing and Control of the Republic of Cuba | ||
| II | Brussels, Belgium | September 1956 | Court of Audit of Belgium | ||
| III | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | May 1959 | Tribunal de Contas da União | ||
| IV | Vienna, Austria | May 1962 | Court of Audit of the Republic of Austria | ||
| V | Jerusalem, Israel | June 1965 | State Comptroller's Office of Israel | ||
| VI | Tokyo, Japan | May 1968 | Board of Audit of Japan | ||
| VII | Montreal, Canada | September 1971 | Office of the Auditor General of Canada | ||
| VIII | Madrid, Spain | May 1974 | Tribunal de Cuentas | ||
| IX | Lima, Peru | October 1977 | Contraloría General de la República del Perú | ||
| X | Nairobi, Kenya | June 1980 | Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General of Kenya | ||
| XI | Manila, Philippines | April 1983 | Philippine Commission on Audit | ||
| XII | Sydney, Australia | April 1986 | Australian National Audit Office | ||
| XIII | Berlin, Germany | June 1989 | Bundesrechnungshof | ||
| XIV | Washington, D.C., U.S. | October 1992 | Government Accountability Office | ||
| XV | Cairo, Egypt | September - October 1995 | Central Auditing Organization of Egypt | ||
| XVI | Montevideo, Uruguay | November 1998 | Contraloría General de la República del Uruguay | ||
| XVII | Seoul, South Korea | October 2001 | Board of Audit and Inspection of Korea | ||
| XVIII | Budapest, Hungary | October 2004 | Hungarian State Audit Office | ||
| XIX | Mexico City, Mexico | November 2007 | Contraloría General de la República de Mexico | https://web.archive.org/web/20081007173620/http://www.incosai2007.org.mx/ | |
| XX | Johannesburg, South Africa | November 2010 | Auditor-General of South Africa | http://www.incosai.co.za/en/ | |
| XXI | Beijing, PR China | October 2013 | National Audit Office of the People's Republic of China | ||
| XXII | Abu Dhabi, UAE | December 2016 | State Audit Institution of United Arab Emirates | http://www.incosai2016.ae | |
| XXIII | Moscow, Russia | September 2019 | Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation | https://incosai2019.ru/en | |
| XXIV | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | November 2022 | Tribunal de Contas da União | https://incosai2022.rio.br/ |
See also: Supreme audit institution. The following supreme audit institution are members of INTOSAI:[6]