Domokos László

The Congress, as the main decision-making body of INTOSAI, meets every three years. In accordance with the programs of today’s plenary session, the discussion on Theme I has started, which topic is: Sustainable Development Goals — How can INTOSAI contribute to the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, including good governance and strengthening the fight against corruption?

 

There is a growing global recognition — and more importantly, expectation — of the central roles of INTOSAI and its member SAIs in promoting good governance and accountability. The recognition of these roles was prominently shown in the United Nations (UN) General Assembly Resolution of December 2011, “Promoting the efficiency, accountability, effectiveness and transparency of public administration by strengthening supreme audit institutions” (A/66/209).

 

The UN has, through the approval of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, provided a challenge to INTOSAI. Likewise above, recent UN General Assembly resolutions have emphasised the key role that supreme audit institutions (SAIs) and INTOSAI can play in the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Theme I of the Congress on the SDGs provides a unique and timely opportunity to consolidate and present the INTOSAI response to the SDG challenge. With regards to Theme I subtopic on assessment and support of sustainable development goals, President Laszlo Domokos gave a starter presentation in which he summarised the role and experience of the SAO regarding the enhancement of corruption-free, transparent and effective operation of public institutions.

 

 

In his speech, Laszlo Domokos supported the initiative that INTOSAI should elaborate a framework for evaluating the public finance management of member states, and based on this framework a comprehensive analysis should be made on the status of public finance management. The President of the SAO highlighted that the SAO is one of those supreme audit institutions that have been already performing audits that may serve as a basis for developing a framework for evaluating public finance management.

 

Laszló Domokos pointed out: According to the Act on the State Audit Office of Hungary, with its findings, recommendations and advice based on its audit experience, the SAO facilitates well-governed state operations. In line with the above, the SAO has been given extensive mandate to support sustainable fiscal management through its audit activities and related holistic analysis. Therefore, the institution provides its opinion on the budget appropriation bill of the following year, audits the reliability of the final accounts of the previous year and every year performs several hundred audits involving budgetary organisations. The latter is made possible only by the standardised, modular auditing programmes developed by the SAO for the audit of budgetary institutions. In his presentation, the President of the SAO highlighted two of these modules: the one developed for assessing the internal control systems, and the other used for evaluating the establishment of integrity controls.

 

At the end of his presentation, Laszló Domokos wish to express again that the SAO is in support of the intention of INTOSAI to develop a standardised assessment module, and is pleased to share its experience with other SAIs participating voluntarily in the related efforts.

 

You can find the full presentation of the President of the SAO of Hungary here.