Audit Exchange oÖLRH-AC

Ethinnes

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• management

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• Publié par: Vouv
• Nombre de lectures: 10
• Langue: English

Extrait

Audit Exchange between the Upper Austrian Court of Audit

(Oberösterreichischer Landesrechnungshof) and the Audit Commission, UK

In November 2007 the Upper Austrian Court of Audit and the Audit Commission, (UK) took

part in an exchange to deliver the EURORAI objective of learning from and sharing audit

knowledge with different audit organisations across Europe.

After Amy Thorpe and Janina Rustige (Audit Commission, UK) spent a few days in Linz to

learn about the Upper Austrian Court of Audit, Thomas Hammer and Norbert Sterrer

(Oberösterreichischer Landesrechnungshof, Upper Austrian Court of Audit) were welcomed in

London on the return visit to learn about the Audit Commission. There was a detailed

examination of audit tools and techniques, audit software and process mapping, report

writing, publishing and client management.

Discussions about the political structures and the

perception of auditors also filled the agenda of the exchange and provided exciting and

interesting learning points for both sides.

The Upper Austrian Court of Audit (LRH) is a small organisation in one of the nine federal states

of Austria that became independent in 2001. A total of 25 staff (including support functions and

senior management) make up the audit team who aim to review as well as consult public sector

organisation in the region. A lot of interest and effort is made to review, consult and make

recommendations on organisational structures, governance and specifically the efficiency of

processes within the client organisations. Some audit projects are commissioned whereas others

are identified as a risk and audited on the Audit Court’s own initiative.

The Audit Commission on the other hand is a large organisation covering all counties in

England with over 2,000 staff. The Commission is entirely independent of government and

has statutory powers to audit (as set out in a legal Act). The Act requires the Commission to

carry out annual financial statement audits of all of its clients, which include ISA (UK&I)

compliant systems and control testing, financial statement audits and reporting. Additionally,

performance reviews and audits on economy, effectiveness and efficiency are conducted at

most clients in the local government and health sectors in England.

There were some distinct differences between the two organisations but good practice in

audit techniques and organisational culture illustrated improvements that could be adopted by

each organisation.

The Austrian audit team shared a useful tool to debrief and evaluate their work during the

audit closure as well as some ideas on systems mapping and report writing.

The Audit Commission also shared some of its policies on auditor training and feedback

procedures as well as the use of performance indicators to assess organisational

performance.

Both teams are presenting the learning goals from their experience to their respective

management and hope to encourage similar exchanges of this nature in the future between

EURORAI members.

Some personal comments:

England:

‘The exchange visit worked very well in that both organisations were keen to share and learn

from each other. It helped that we had clear objectives that enabled us to come away with

succinct learning points to present internally to management for discussion.’

‘Having an ‘outsider’ scrutinise and question the Audit Commission’s ways of working was a

very interesting and challenging experience and the learning from this and the exchange will

hopefully prove to be another important development step of our organisation as well as for

our Austrian colleagues.

The Austrian office was very welcoming and it was also interesting to see some other parts of

the organisation such as the interior design of the building.’

Austria:

‘The auditor’s exchange with the English Audit Commission was a great experience for me. I

think that it is very important to compare different auditing systems, so as to learn from each

other. In my opinion the differences between our organisations are mainly based on the

political structures.

Moreover I found out a lot about English customs and culture during our visit in London.

Altogether it was a very exciting and informative time.’

‘New public management is in England in higher gear than in Austria. The audit of indicators

will be a subject in Austria in the near future and it was also very interesting on how such a

large organisation was structured and organised. I also think that the membership of the staff

to a professional accountancy institute is a great thing for the English auditors.’