The project for exchanging information among auditors from different SAIs enhances the quality of national audits
Press Release on the Meeting of the Heads of the Supreme Audit Institutions of the Czech Republic and the United Kingdom - 22 January 2024
On Monday 22 January 2024, the President of the Supreme Audit Office (SAO) and EUROSAI, Miloslav Kala, met with the Comptroller and General Auditor of the National Audit Office of the United Kingdom (NAO UK), Gareth Davies, at the new headquarters of the SAO. Gareth Davies visited Prague on the occasion of the opening meeting of the newly established EUROSAI Project Group” Resilience and Preparedness”.
The two representatives exchanged experience regarding the audit of public finances in their respective countries. On that occasion, President Kala emphasised the useful cooperation between the auditors of both countries within the BIEP project. The project was initiated by the SAO and is intended for the exchange of information among foreign Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs). The BIEP portal is used by more than 500 employees of SAIs from a total of 51 EUROSAI members. It has covered 68 topics.
Thanks to the BIEP project, for example, in the year 2020 Czech auditors were able to compare the prices at which personal protective equipment had been purchased in the Czech Republic and in the United Kingdom during the COVID-19 pandemic (as part of Audit No. 20/23). And it turned out that, for example, the Czech Republic bought respirators for more than CZK 102 on average, while the United Kingdom bought them for less than CZK 74. “The exchange of information helps improve the quality of national audits. Thanks to this, we can offer audited entities an objective comparison with practice abroad,” emphasised President Kala. Gareth Davies agreed that the sharing of information, data, and experience was beneficial for both SAIs and added that it should definitely be further developed. He also thanked President Kala for his professional leadership of EUROSAI. The Czech Presidency will end in May.
Gareth Davies then received the SAO Presidents’ Award for Outstanding Merit in public audit and for promoting a new form of audit known as ‘rapid audits’, which last a few weeks at most and identify and describe the current state of affairs. The price is depicted in the form of a magnifying glass, symbolizing a detailed examination of the state of affairs, where the hidden is revealed, and the seemingly invisible comes to light.
Communication Department
Supreme Audit Office