International activities

By complying with international standards for supreme audit institutions and remaining abreast of the latest developments in our profession our ambition is to further enhance the quality of our day-to-day activities and our recommendations.

We seek to learn from other supreme audit institutions but we also enjoy sharing our experience with others. This is demonstrated by our membership of international organisations and our participation in international working groups and institutional strengthening projects with other audit institutions. The Court of Audit believes it is one of its task to assist other audit institutions and relevant organisations abroad in order to promote public accountability and increase the transparency of government action. We do this by, for example, holding training courses in performance auditing in which we focus on observing the audit subject, engaging specialists and key figures and consulting experts in the field.

Audit methodology

The Court of Audit has developed a methodology that enables other audit institutions to increase their effectiveness, both internally and externally. The hallmarks of this methodology are:

• We base our relationship with foreign counterparts on trust, both at management level and at auditor level. We do not look upon the auditors primarily as pupils/students but rather as peers. We think joint activities and learning are most effective when they are based on equality and mutual respect.
• Our capacity building is demand driven: we tailor our work to fit the recipient's abilities and needs. Experience has taught us that the audit profession is relatively uniform and auditors speak the same language throughout the world. Yet there are differences in the audit approach and the methods used by audit institutions. The differences are not only culturally determined but are also due to the constitutional position of the institution concerned.
• We create a safe learning environment and aim to strengthen the auditors' self-confidence. Errors can be made, as long as lessons are learnt from them.
• We believing in learning by coaching. We want auditors to realise that performance auditing constantly calls for independent thought. It also requires practical and operational choices that manuals cannot always foresee. Our approach allows auditors to depart from the manual where necessary and justifiable.
• Our approach is to develop self-aware ambassadors who pass on the knowledge they gain both inside and outside their own organisations. We recognise the importance of strengthening self-confidence and improving presentation skills.
• We think auditing should culminate in meaningful recommendations. To this end, we encourage auditors to explain why policy is not efficient or effective. We place special emphasis on the impact of audits and audit findings. We use a variety of channels to communicate the audit message to relevant target groups.