Using international standards as a basis, the OAG has developed guidelines for each type of audit. These guidelines can be downloaded as PDF documents. The auditing standards represent general guidelines and apply to all three types of audit.

An explanation of the three types of audit conducted by the OAG is given below, as well as information on how the results of the auditing are reported to the Norwegian parliament (the Storting).

Audit types and document types

The objective of financial auditing is to confirm that the accounts do not contain material defects and deficiencies and that the transactions upon which the accounts are based comply with the decisions and intentions of the Storting.

The results of financial audits are reported once a year for each ministry in Document no. 1.

The objective of performance auditing is to verify how government measures have been implemented and to ascertain the effects the measures have had. Performance auditing is based on the decisions and intentions of the Storting, which entails the OAG assessing whether the government administration has followed the instructions issued to them by the Storting. Performance auditing will thus contribute to better and more effective government administration.

A performance audit makes an in-depth investigation of audit questions within a limited audit area. The results of performance auditing are reported in the Document no. 3 series that is submitted to the Storting as and when the investigations of the various matters are concluded.

Administrative reports are performance audits that have revealed findings of a less serious nature that will not be addressed by the Storting but will be sent to the Standing Committee for Scrutiny and Constitutional Affairs and to the ministries concerned for their information.

The objective of corporate control is to assess whether the cabinet minister has performed his/her task as administrator of the state’s interests in companies in accordance with the decisions and intentions of the Storting.

Ownership is one of several policy instruments that the state can utilise to realise its objectives. The companies in which the state has interests are independent legal entities outside ordinary central government administration. For the wholly-owned companies that have been assigned social responsibility, corporate control must also include performance auditing.

From and including 2005-2006 the results of corporate control are reported in Document no. 1. Results from earlier years are reported in Document no. 3.2.

In the menu to the left you find descriptions of the types of audit and the process that lies behind their performance, as well as links to the main regulations that the OAG must take into account in the audit process.