Engaging Citizens in the Audit Process: A New Frontier in Public Financial Management - World Bank Group

Supreme audit institutions (SAIs) play a critical role in monitoring transparency in the use of public funds, in fighting corruption and in overseeing the efficiency and economy in service delivery and policy interventions. In enhancing their mission, SAIs contribute to good governance and to improving the lives of citizens.

All this makes them a natural partner of citizens in exercising public scrutiny. In turn, partnership with civil society organizations and citizens at large can help SAIs leverage their capacity, enhance the value of public oversight, and strengthen the legitimacy of audit processes as well as their independence.

How can SAIs and citizens team up to enhance external oversight through greater participation, transparency, and accountability? How can the tools and mechanisms be created for SAIs and citizens to work jointly toward improving the audit process? Answering those questions is at the core of course, which tries to address them in a practical, simple way while reinforcing the growing consensus regarding benefits that the collaboration brings about.

The course is organized into three modules that present the key concepts and provide opportunities to apply and discuss tools and mechanisms that have been used by different SAIS around the globe for engaging citizens in the audit process:
 

• Module 1: The Basics of Supreme Audit Institutions-Citizen Engagement.
• Module 2: Citizen Engagement Practices by Supreme Audit Institutions: Tools and Methods.
• Module 3: What success looks like and how to measure impact.