CZECH REPUBLIC: IT common audit areas project

Common audit areas in IT is a project activity that SAO Czech Republic has launched together with its partner SAI Estonia. The main objective of the project is to share information, intentions and ideas in an efficient and beneficial way.

Overall, the idea of sharing audit plans and topics is not new. However, during the debates with different SAIs it has become apparent that certain internal policies of SAIs may not allow to share all the details of SAIs’ audit plans.

Moreover, we are also aware of the fact that the audit plans are not constant and can change in time.

Making it possible though, despite all odds, was our goal. We believe that there is a certain level to which data and information can be shared for the benefit of participating SAIs.

On the basis of this premise, to start off with, we tried to create a simple tool in the form of an Excel table for sharing IT audit areas. Bearing in mind the administrative obstacles mentioned above, we tried to design a very simple tool that could be adjusted to all the specific SAIs’ possibilities of publishing details about their audits.

Nonetheless, it is very important to point out that this model is a pilot version and that it can be adjusted based on experience that will be acquired during the process.

Also, we would like to point out that the project of sharing IT audit areas is going to be processed within the BIEP portal.

Users of the BIEP portal are exclusively SAI employees, which means that only they are going to be able to access the published information . Furthermore, ITWG is an exclusive working group and only approved members can access it.

Data and information shared on this platform is therefore by no means going to be public.

Inspiration is the message we would like to send through this project, since it can be very helpful to see what others are working and focusing on and thus get new ideas for our own work.

This way, we are trying to facilitate the cooperation through this simple tool and make it possible for a broader spectrum of SAIs to get the information that is not usually publicly available.

At the same time, in case some SAIs find out that their common areas are being audited at the same time, there is a possibility for developing deeper bilateral cooperation.

Rather than thinking about the individual limits on providing information we try to do small steps and prove that even a limited amount of information provided can actually add value to the work of others.

Eventually, we are open to any suggestions that you might have regarding this ITWG project activity.

After all, more minds are better than one.

Summing things up, we would like to thank all the SAIs that have already contributed and filled in the MS Excel tables and encourage others to do so in the future as well.