International Journal of Government Auditing – July 2010
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At the 2004 INCOSAI in Budapest, member countries unanimously adopted INTOSAI’s first-ever strategic plan. During the past 2 years, I have had the honor and pleasure of assisting the Chair of INTOSAI’s Strategic Planning Task Force in developing the organization’s second strategic plan in close cooperation with the Secretary General, the goal chairs, and other task force members. The final plan document will be distributed to the Governing Board and all members SAIs before it is presented to the XX INCOSAI for approval.
During the first hearing round, we incorporated comments received from both the task force and INTOSAI members and, during March/April 2010, produced a new draft plan based on the task force members’ review. That draft was translated into INTOSAI’s official languages in May 2010 and sent to all SAIs for a second hearing round.
Most of you are still reviewing that draft, but I have already received some comments from member SAIs. I am looking forward to analyzing these comments in more depth, as I am convinced that they will improve the latest draft of the second strategic plan. I believe that this will be the final draft of the plan for 2011–2016 that I will forward to the Chair of the task force following consultation sessions with the four goal committee chairs over the summer. While I am unsure about the number of drafts I have worked with during the past 2 years, every version has been improved after incorporating comments from the task force, the Finance and Administration Committee, and the Governing Board as well as from the whole membership during the first hearing round.
In the April issue of the Journal, I wrote about key issues in the revised INTOSAI strategic plan for 2011–2016 and the importance of INTOSAI’s seven core values, which form the basis for the new plan. In my opinion, the strategic plan has revitalized the whole organization—not only the chairs of our four strategic goal committees and the subcommittees, working groups, and task forces, but also all the supreme audit institutions (SAI) participating in those groups that are implementing the plan’s strategic objectives and activities. In our SAIs, we already have thousands of people working to promote INTOSAI and advocate for it as a model international organization.
While having a strategic plan is important, it is equally important to ensure that the elements of the plan are being implemented effectively to achieve the plan’s strategic objectives. Since being appointed Director of Strategic Planning, I have closely followed activities related to the plan. I am happy to witness every day that INTOSAI’s first strategic plan continues to be implemented with great efficiency and broad-based support.
At the beginning of May, I participated in the meeting in Copenhagen of the Steering Committee of the Professional Standards Committee, together with about 40 other professionals who demonstrated their strong engagement in efforts to improve our organization by developing standards and other audit guidance material. The Steering Committee of the Capacity Building Committee also recently held its annual meeting in Washington, and the Steering Committee of the Knowledge Sharing Committee will hold its meeting later this summer.
All the activities and efforts I have witnessed during my period as Director of Strategic Planning have clearly demonstrated that INTOSAI members are working together in a more structured way as a result of our first strategic plan. INTOSAI’s motto, “Mutual Experience Benefits All,” has taken on a renewed meaning for all of us.
The strategic plan has also opened the door for partnership between the international donor community and INTOSAI. The memorandum of understanding INTOSAI entered into with the donor community last year stipulates, among other things, that donor support will be used to (1) develop and implement SAI strategic plans and (2) develop action plans, as many SAIs still need support to strengthen their strategic planning capabilities.
A new Director of Strategic Planning will be appointed for the next 3 years at the XX INCOSAI in South Africa in November. My final column in the October issue of the Journal will summarize my experience with INTOSAI strategic planning in general and the implementation of the second INTOSAI strategic plan. I will also look back and summarize my time as Director of Strategic Planning.
Please feel free to contact me at astrup@rechnungshof.gv.at if you have comments or would like to give feedback on issues related to implementing INTOSAI’s strategic plan.