Second Planning Meeting of the Global Project on SAI Independence

From 24 to 25 September 2024, international partners of the Global Project on Supreme Audit Institution (SAI) Independence convened at the Austrian Court of Audit, the headquarters of the INTOSAI General Secretariat. This meeting served an important milestone in the ongoing initiative, which was launched in November 2022 by the INTOSAI Development Initiative (IDI) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

The first planning meeting took place in February 2024 in Paris at the OECD. Since then, the Global Project has made significant progress, particularly in terms of identifying and analysing informal factors that influence the independence of SAIs worldwide. These factors, which have an impact on existing legal frameworks, were already formally discussed during the IDI-OECD Masterclass in Paris in October 2023. Following the opening of the meeting by Dr. Margit Kraker, INTOSAI Secretary General and President of the Austrian Court of Audit, the twelve participants who were present in Vienna and three participants who joined virtually focused on two key topics:

• The preparation of a joint report on informal factors affecting SAI Independence and the role of the executive and legislature in safeguarding this independence.
• The development of OECD principles on SAI Independence, which will be based on the findings of this report.

The Global Project draws on high-level expertise and international partnerships to take a holistic view of the challenges of SAI Independence. It shows how informal factors influence fiscal transparency, public financial management and accountability. In addition to the OECD and the IDI, the INTOSAI General Secretariat and the SAI of the USA (GAO), other global partners join the efforts to promote SAI Independence, such as the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO).

In connection with the work of the Global Project, the presentation of the project's progress to date at the INTOSAI Donor Cooperation Meeting on 16 September 2024 in Bucharest was very positive. The response from participants highlighted the broad interest and urgency of SAI Independence for the international community.

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