Real-time Auditing: A Tool to Enhance Good Governance and Accountability for Public Funds
Real-time audits can complement and add to the scope of work undertaken by national, state and local audit organizations, providing timely insights and enhancing oversight and decision-making. As reflected in the INTOSAI Journal’s recent discussion of responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, real-time audits helped to track contracts, funding, and services. Against the backdrop of the pandemic as well as tracking government interventions after financial crises and responding to natural disaster recovery efforts, real-time auditing experience offers lessons learned about how Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) can contribute to good governance and accountability for public funds.