ITWG Newsletter 1/2026
Message of the Chair
Dear colleagues,
If there is one "broken record“ sentence in our auditing world, it’s that digitalisation has changed not only the way public services are delivered, but also the way public accountability must be examined. Most of our monitored phenomena – financial transactions, administrative decisions, service delivery and records management – increasingly take place inside information systems. As this edition of the EUROSAI IT Working Group Newsletter shows, IT audit skills are no longer relevant only for dedicated IT audits. They are becoming essential across financial, compliance and performance auditing.
The article from Azerbaijan sets the broader context clearly. IT audit skills help auditors assess digitalisation, access rights, data protection, automated workflows, reporting functions, cybersecurity and the reliability of electronic records. Azerbaijan’s experience also underlines that IT audit is not only a technical verification tool, but can support better governance and stronger internal control culture.
The other contributions illustrate this message from different angles. Hungary shows how artificial intelligence and automated document processing can transform large volumes of unstructured information into analysable data, supporting risk monitoring and audit preparation. Slovenia’s article reminds us that large public-sector IT projects require audit questions about measurable objectives, risk management, outsourced development, scope control, cost and time management. My own colleagues from NAO Estonia share insights to health data audit. It demonstrates how data quality, standards, governance and automated controls affect not only system performance, but also service continuity and financial assurance.
Our guest article from ARABOSAI region, by SAI Kuwait, brings the financial audit perspective, showing how tools such as IDEA help auditors analyse whole populations of transactions, identify anomalies and link IT control weaknesses to financial audit risks.
One may draw a common conclusion from these articles: it would be feasible to engage IT auditors earlier and more systematically in audit planning. Their perspective can add a new dimension to audits by identifying digital intervention points that may otherwise remain invisible. They can help audit teams ask whether data is reliable, whether automated controls work as intended, whether systems support or undermine accountability, and whether traditional audit procedures are sufficient in a digital environment.
At the same time, this cannot be the responsibility of IT auditors alone. Regular auditors need enough IT audit awareness to recognise when specialist input is needed. The ITWG training programme “Introduction to Public Sector IT Audit” can play an important role here. It gives auditors the vocabulary and practical orientation needed to detect intervention vectors where IT audit expertise can strengthen audit design, reduce audit risk and improve the value of audit findings.
This newsletter therefore invites us to see IT audit not as a separate field, but as a cross-cutting capability for modern public-sector auditing.
Janar Holm
Auditor General of Estonia/Chair of EUROSAI ITWG
Feature story from Azerbaijan: Use of IT Auditing Skills Within Other Types of Audit
At present, the impact of the accelerating implementation of digitalization initiatives in the public sector has begun to attract attention from various perspectives. The automation of work procedures, integration of information systems, digitization of document authentication, and the formation of large-scale data repositories against this background have become factors influencing qualitative changes in the performance of any entity. The growing importance of information technologies and the expanding scope of their application have also created new challenges within the framework of public sector auditing in Azerbaijan.
Read more
CZECH REPUBLIC: Where Did the Billions for Digitalisation Go? Promises vs. Reality
In January 2026, the Supreme Audit Office of the Czech Republic published its Second Comprehensive Report on the digitalisation of Public Administration (As of June, the full report is available in English). Evaluating the 2020–2025 period during which over €2 billion was invested. The Comprehesive report integrates normative, performance, and user layers based on the EU Digital Decade targets.
ESTONIA: Estonia’s Health Data Audit Highlights Gaps in Data Quality, Standards and Governance
All healthcare providers in Estonia are required to maintain clinical records of the care they provide and submit the relevant records to the national health information system. However, the data is often inaccurate, incomplete or untimely. Some health information is difficult to interpret, while treatment summaries are submitted late or not submitted at all. National Audit Office concluded that improving data quality requires stronger stewardship, clearer documentation requirements, better coordination of digital development and more effective quality controls. Without reliable data, healthcare professionals and patients face additional burdens, and continuity of care may be compromised.
HUNGARY: Using AI to Analyse Disruptions in the Healthcare System
Background
In 2025, the State Audit Office of Hungary (SAO) transitioned to a competency-based operational model. Each competency area required monitoring tools capable of highlighting not only the sector-wide big picture but also competency-specific risks to support data-driven audit activities.
SLOVENIA: Audit insights from a project to modernize a core public finance information system
The Court of Audit of the Republic of Slovenia recently completed a comprehensive performance audit assessing the efficiency of the Ministry of Finance in carrying out the project to modernize the key information system supporting public finance in Slovenia, known as MFERAC. The findings shed light on the challenges of planning and managing large-scale upgrades of mission-critical public-sector information systems, where old and new systems must operate simultaneously while frequent updates are needed to support both technical changes, evolving regulatory and other requirements. This raised several audit-related challenges, including how to assess planning quality, evaluate the management of relationships with external provider, and examine whether the project is being properly managed.
ITWG Has Launched Free Global Training Programme on Auditing AI in the Public Sector
Auditors and public sector professionals worldwide now have access to a new free online training programme designed to build expertise in auditing artificial intelligence (AI) in government. Developed by the EUROSAI IT Working Group (ITWG), led by the National Audit Office of Estonia, the programme “Auditing AI in the Public Sector” brings together expertise from the Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) of Egypt, Estonia, India, Israel, Morocco, Oman, Slovenia, Sudan, Switzerland, the Netherlands and the United States.
Registration Opened for the 19th EUROSAI ITWG Meeting and Cybersecurity Seminar
Audit professionals from across Europe and beyond are invited to register for the 19th Meeting of the EUROSAI IT Working Group (ITWG), taking place on 8–9 September 2026 in a hybrid format, with participants able to join either in Budapest or online. The event is jointly organised by the National Audit Office of Estonia and the State Audit Office of Hungary.
Global Audit Community Explored Data-Driven Efficiency at ITWG e-Seminar on 14 April
More than 250 audit professionals from over 50 Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) around the world came together on 14 April 2026 for the ITWG e-Seminar “From Data to Findings – Shortcuts for Audit Efficiency”. The event highlighted innovative approaches to data analytics and automation, showcasing how technology is helping auditors work smarter and deliver deeper insights.
EGYPT: The Future of Auditing: Will Emerging Technologies Replace Auditors or Empower Them?
The rapid advancement of emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, and AI Automation is reshaping the audit profession. As organizations generate increasing volumes of digital data, an important question arises: will technology eventually replace auditors, or will it empower them to perform their work more effectively?
KUWAIT: Financial Auditing in a Digital Environment — The State Audit Bureau of Kuwait’s Experience
Kuwait Vision 2035 has made great strides in the digitalization of the public sector, which has revolutionized how financial and administrative processes are handled in government organizations. Interconnected digital systems are now used for budget execution, procurement, payroll, revenue collection and expenditure reporting. The State Audit Bureau of Kuwait (SAB) is of the opinion that this transition has made it essential to incorporate IT-related matters in the core of financial auditing, rather than as a standalone discipline, as an integral part of the process of assessing and verifying public funds.
