Agenda of the SIGMA conference on developing effective working relationships between Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) and Parliaments. This conference is jointly organised with the Turkish Court of Accounts on 8-9 November 2016 in Ankara.

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Network of Supreme Audit Institutions of
EU Candidate and Potential Candidate Countries
and the European Court of Auditors
Developing Effective Working Relationships
between Supreme Audit Institutions and
Parliaments
Agenda
8-9 November 2016
Ankara, Turkey
Hosted by Turkish Court of Accounts

2. 2
Background
The Network of Supreme Audit Institutions of EU Candidate and Potential Candidate Countries and
European Court of Auditors (the Network) has identified as a common priority “increasing the impact of
SAIs”, particularly in co-operation with national parliaments. At a regional conference in Budva,
Montenegro, in November 2013, on the relations between SAIs and parliaments, the Network decided to
develop a guidance paper that could help in identifying opportunities for strengthening the mutually
beneficial working relations between SAIs and parliaments.
With the support of SIGMA, this guidance paper has now been developed and the draft will be launched
and discussed during the conference.
The main objective of the guidance paper is to present an overview of practices from all over the EU and
Network countries. This overview will contribute to enabling the identification of potential
improvements in the relations between SAIs and parliaments, and provide examples of good practices.
Network SAIs can benefit from the experiences in other Network countries, and also from experiences by
SAIs and parliaments from EU member states.
Creating such an overview has required not only input from the SAIs involved in the Network but also
especially from SAIs of EU Member States. In order to minimise the investment in time needed, and in
order to make comparisons more straightforward, the overview is based on the responses provided to a
questionnaire that was sent out to the SAIs of the Contact Committee and the Network. The Network
would like to thank all SAIs who provided responses.
Objectives of the Conference
The objective of the conference is firstly to present the draft guidance paper and receive feedback on
further development and finalisation of the paper. Secondly, it is to present specific examples of good
practice in EU Member States and Network countries as to how to create and maintain strong working
relationships between SAIs and Parliaments which enable Parliaments to hold governments to account
and help SAIs to increase the impact of their audit work.
The Conference will provide an opportunity for Presidents and Auditors General as well as senior
management of SAIs of the Network, to discuss amongst each other good practices and challenges. It
also provides an opportunity for discussion with representatives of Parliaments and EU Member State
SAIs, including ECA and to identify the next steps that could be taken in enhancing the relationships
between SAIs and Parliaments.

3. 3
Tuesday 8 November 2016
9.00 Welcome coffee / registration
9.30 Opening of the Conference, welcome
Mr Seyit Ahmet Baş - President of the Turkish Court of Accounts
Ms Iliana Ivanova, Dean of Chamber II, Member of the European Court of Auditors
Ms Karen Hill – Head of the SIGMA Programme
Mr Gabriel Munuera Vinals - Deputy Head of the EU Delegation to Turkey
Theme I Developing effective working relationships between SAIs and Parliaments: a
guidance paper on the basis of country contributions
10.00 Presentation of the draft study “Developing Effective Working Relationships
between Supreme Audit Institutions and Parliaments - a Guidance Paper”
Mr Jan Pieter Lingen - SIGMA expert
Mrs Bianca Brétéché - SIGMA senior advisor
Mr Alastair Swarbrick - SIGMA senior advisor
Questions & Answers
11.00 Coffee / tea break
11.30 Moderated expert discussion for feedback about the draft study
Moderator: Mr Zsolt Szelecki, SIGMA expert
Up to five representatives from the preparatory working group of the Network
SAIs, ECA and EU Member States are invited to provide feedback on the study.
The objective of this panel is to get guidance from the Network SAIs in how far
there is a wish for this study to be further elaborated or not. Experts will be asked
to provide feedback on their impressions about the study as a guidance tool for
SAIs to further strengthen their individual relationships with their parliaments.
Questions will be prepared and provided to the panellists before the conference in
order to help them prepare for this panel discussion. Those questions will also take
into account eventual comments that individual SAIs of the preparatory working
group might have expressed on the draft paper.
12.30 Lunch
Theme II Effective lines of communication and relationships with Parliaments
14.00 Presentation of good practice examples for SAI and Parliament
The presentations will be focused on how to develop and maintain effective lines
of communications and relationships with Parliaments. It will also provide input

4. 4
and food for thought for the panel discussion following.
• Mr Tony Murphy, Private Office of Mrs Ivanova, Member of the European
Court of Auditors, will present the Court’s perspective and experience of
cooperating with the European Parliament. This presentation will pay
special attention to ECA’s specific communication policy.
• Prof. Dr. Klaus Goetz, SIGMA expert, Chair of Political Systems and
European Integration Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich Department
of Political Science, will present good practices in EU and OECD countries
about the ways Parliaments make effective use of SAIs reports and work.
Questions and answers
15:00 Coffee/tea break
15.30 Moderated panel discussion for country representatives from EU Member States
and Network SAIs and Parliaments
Moderator: Mr Zsolt Szelecki, SIGMA expert
The ISSAIs express the expectations that SAIs will develop effective lines of
communication and relationships with Parliament and its relevant oversight
committees. ISSAI 12 indicates that “SAIs should develop professional relationships
with relevant legislative oversight committees and audited entities’ management
and governing boards to help them better understand the audit reports and
conclusions and take appropriate action.” ISSAI 20 states that “SAIs maintain a
strong relationship with relevant parliamentary committees to help them better
understand the audit reports and conclusions and to take appropriate action.”
This clearly indicates that today, according to the standards, formal submission of
reports is not sufficient for stimulating adequate follow-up and action. SAIs need
to do more to explain their role and the work they do, provide briefings on reports
and other matters, be pro-active in engaging and explaining their work, develop
and implement an effective communication strategy to ensure their work can have
impact and support good governance.
Questions will be prepared and provided to the panellists before the conference in
order to help them prepare for this panel discussion.
The panel will be opened to participants.
17.00 Closing of the first conference day
Mr Seyit Ahmet Baş, President of the Turkish Court of Accounts
Ms Iliana Ivanova, Dean of Chamber II, Member of the European Court of Auditors
Ms Karen Hill – Head of Programme SIGMA
19.00
19.30
Departure from hotel
Dinner

5. 5
Wednesday 9 November 2016
8.30 Welcoming coffee / registration
Theme III Follow up on findings and recommendations together with Parliament
9.00 Presentation of an interesting SAI approach from EU member states
This presentation will provide input and food for thought for the following
panel discussion.
Mrs Zita Zariņa, Member of Council of the SAI of Latvia, Director of Audit and
Methodology Department, will present the Latvian experience especially with
regard to coordinate the reporting timetable of the SAI with committees in
parliament and the practice of the responsible parliamentary committee to
follow up on audit reports.
Questions and answers
10.00 Coffee / tea break
10.30 Moderated panel discussion for country representatives from EU Member
States and Network SAIs and Parliaments
Moderator: Mr Zsolt Szelecki, SIGMA expert
The standards set expectations for SAIs in following up on the observations
and recommendations contained in their reports, and reporting the outcomes.
ISSAIs 10, 12 and 20 specifically refer to follow up. An expectation is also set on
following up on the recommendations made by the Legislature, one of its
commissions, or the auditee’s governing board, as appropriate. Therefore,
within the context of their overall responsibilities on reporting there is an
expectation that a SAI will report to Parliament (and other stakeholders) on
the results of their work to assess whether the Government or its entities have
taken appropriate action in respect to the recommendations of the SAI.
The panel will be opened to participants.
12:00 Ideas for next steps and concrete actions to be taken
• by the Network
• by individual SAIs
In a moderated tour de table all countries present can contribute ideas and
suggestions for next steps and concrete activities that the Network and/or
individual SAIs could undertake in order to take this agenda forward.
12.30 Closing of the Conference
13.00 Lunch
14.30 Departure from hotel for cultural tour