A presentation from a two day conference hosted by Support for Improvement in Governance and Management and the State Audit Institution of Montenegro."Building constructive relations between Supreme Audit Institutions and Parliament: experiences from the Netherlands"

1. principally financed by the EU
A joint initiative of the OECD and the European Union,
Conference on Relations between
SAIs and Parliaments
of EU Candidate and
Potential Candidate Countries
hosted by the State Audit Institution of Montenegro
Coordination, Technical and Financial Support:
OECD/SIGMA
and the Joint Working Group on Audit Activities (JWGAA)
18-19 November 2013
© OECD

2. Presentation from Parliament’s perspective
Building constructive relations
between SAI and Parliament:
experiences from the
Netherlands
Jan Pieter Lingen, Sigma expert

3. Experiences from the Netherlands
Setting the scene:
• Parliamentary system, standing committees,
Budget Control Committee (since 1923)
• SAI: independent collegial body
• Ministry of Finance: key player
• constitutional set up / ministerial
responsibility / accountability

4. Experiences from the Netherlands
Relationship SAI-Parliament > 30 years back:
some characteristics in brief:
• voluminous annual report, difficult to digest
for parliament, next to individual financial
audit reports per ministry; no summaries, no
briefings
• highly formal contacts
• but: first performance audits and first request
for audits

5. Experiences from the Netherlands
Parliamentary initiatives in perspective of
budget right and accountability:
• Internally: clarifying role BCC re-other
committees (Rules of procedure); expert staff
BCC; budget for outsourcing research; training
course for (new) MP’s, staff and press;
procedure for control of big projects, staff BCC
core of research unit in parliament

6. Experiences from the Netherlands
Parliamentary initiatives in perspective of
budget right and accountability
• Externally-SAI: regular meetings Board SAI –
BCC; frequent working level meetings with
SAI; assigning contact persons; secondment of
SAI staff to BCC staff; SAI staff assistance in
parliamentary enquiries; SAI staff assists in
training courses MP’s; briefings SAI reports
introduced

7. Experiences from the Netherlands
Parliamentary initiatives in perspective of
budget right and accountability:
• Externally-MoF: requiring MoF to improve
budget information, to strengthen internal
audit and financial management, to submit
the accounts and the audit report in May n+1,
to introduce output/performance information
in the budget, to broaden legal mandate SAI

8. Experiences from the Netherlands
Experience in perspective:
• pro-active approach needed
• continuous identification of (new)
opportunities
• “maintenance” essential
• legal framework and rules of procedure lay
basis, understanding (and willingness to
understand!) key

9. Experiences from the Netherlands
Some ideas on the basis of NL experiences:
How to build sustainable relations parliament-SAI:
• institutionalization of relations SAI parliament via:
 appointment liaison officers
 joint development of procedures/guidelines for handling
reports and organisation briefings
 exchange / secondment of staff
• Institutionalization of internal work practices in parliament
(dedicated committee, reporting system, hearings, inviting or
involving other committees)
• Select issues/topics that SAI and parliament can work on
jointly (“a-political”; easy for SAI to investigate/audit, easy for
parliament to attract media attention and get positive
response from government; easy wins)

10. Experiences from the Netherlands
Some ideas on the basis of NL experiences:
• keep the broader context in mind: parliamentary oversight
over the budget (scrutinize draft budget, monitor
implementation, discharge government)
For SAIs:
• be open-minded, accommodate as much as possible wishes
/needs parliament; being independent is a mind-set
• seek input for work programme and align timing reports with
parliament’s agenda
• do not overload parliament with details that do not
(immediately) demand parliament’s attention
• consider offering technical assistance (workshop on budget?)

11. Experiences from the Netherlands
Can you benefit from the NL experiences?