A new era: Strategic plan 2025–2027

Our audits capture particularly important societal considerations and provide the Storting, public administration and citizens with new information and knowledge.

Specific objectives:

• contribute to the Storting's supervisory role by providing information about whether the state's resources are utilised efficiently, and to what extent national goals are achieved and the central government’s financial management is prudent and responsible
• contribute to ensuring confidence in the central government’s accounts and compliance with the Storting's decisions and intentions
• provide new information to the public administration that can contribute to learning and improvement
• contribute to the development of public auditing internationally and provide assistance to national audit offices in countries where we can contribute by increasing capacity and independence

Our conclusions are credible and based on sufficient information and thorough analyses.

Specific objectives:

• comply with national and international public auditing standards
• have strong, specialist expert communities in all types of audits
• utilise technological opportunities for collecting, analysing and communicating auditing information
• develop our expertise in line with the professional and technological complexity of audited agencies

We are a well-run agency that places emphasis on cost-effectiveness and sustainability in the performance of our duties.

Specific objectives:

• carry out cost-effective audits
• simplify work processes and improve their organisation to free up manpower for priority tasks and reduce operating expenses at all levels of the organisation
• contribute to the green transition by choosing environmentally friendly solutions in all parts of the organisation
• maintain a working environment characterised by job satisfaction, good communication, co-determination and involvement, and adherence to our values

We strengthen dialogue with the Storting, public administration and citizens to identify potential auditing topics and communicate the results of our audits.

Specific objectives:

• communicate our results clearly to the public
• increase dialogue with various stakeholders to gain and contribute insight
• make independent and objective contributions to the debate on improving the public sector
• be open about how we work and how we have arrived at our conclusions

We will:

• align work processes and organise the agency with strong, specialist expert communities use specialist expertise across the organisation
• prepare for auditing agencies where IT complexity is increasing
• define work processes that ensure uniform performance of the financial audit
• organise the audit portfolio to ensure both flexibility in the use of resources and uniform handling of specific issues.
• standardise, centralise and automate the performance of the financial audit where appropriate
• further develop a specialist environment for auditing outlines, and ensure rapid follow-up of risks identified in the financial audit
• further develop a specialist environment for analysing central government accounting data for use in auditing and reporting
• further develop auditing of central government accounts in accordance with the new act and automate attestation
• actively contribute to the development of the framework for central government accounting

We will:

• prioritise audits based on the strategic auditing areas we have defined following an assessment of particularly important societal considerations
• prioritise audits based on risk, materiality and added value for the Storting, public administration and citizens
• develop a more varied portfolio of performance audits – the portfolio will continue to consist of audits of major societal challenges that require a cross-sectoral approach, but also thematic and time-limited audits that can be reported quickly to the Storting
• further develop the forms of reporting to the Storting based on a more varied portfolio
• test ‘learning reports’ that can be used to summarise a group of completed audits
• increase the use of advanced technology and methods for analysing large amounts of data where appropriate
• provide overall guidance on use of resources in connection with audits
• simplify work processes to reduce completion time and the cost of an individual audit

We will:

• employ a dedicated strategy for recruiting personnel with the necessary expertise
• retain and develop expertise in line with requirements, expectations and future needs
• build robust and specialist expert communities in line with a comprehensive HR strategy. further develop comprehensive learning paths for employees and managers in all types of audits
• develop all employees’ competence to enable us to use digital tools in a secure, critical and creative manner
• employ a comprehensive system for strategic competence management in line with international standards
• develop and introduce tools and methods to regularly follow up the agency’s competence needs, the individual’s competence and development needs
• collaborate and share experience with other national audit offices, auditing environments and academia to develop the auditing of the future

We will:

• use technology wherever possible to improve, simplify and innovate the way we work and operate. work systematically to identify work processes that can be automated and automate them based on a cost/benefit analysis, so that we can work smart, simplify everyday work and free up time for analyses and assessments
• use technological opportunities to collect, analyse and communicate large amounts of auditing information to help improve the quality of the audit work
• actively use artificial intelligence in a responsible manner both in the audit work and in developing the organisation, where it can increase the efficiency or quality of the work
• develop information management in line with best practice and national guidelines
• adopt support systems and tools for auditing that make it easy to comply with standards and requirements
• choose standard solutions and applications that are available as far as possible
• base investments in technology on cost/benefit analyses, a ‘cloud-first’ approach and in accordance with the best security practices

We will:

• ensure comprehensive governance based on governance information that ensures cost control of audit tasks and support functions, good use of resources and systematic follow-up of priority tasks – governance will be aligned with performance indicators to enable follow-up of all strategic goals
• establish a comprehensive quality management system in line with international standards for national audits and requirements set out in the regulations for financial management in the public sector (Økonomiregelverket)
• simplify work processes in both auditing and support functions to free up resources for priority tasks and reduce operating expenses
• facilitate smooth collaboration across the organisation when this is important to ensure a comprehensive and interdisciplinary approach to tasks
• ensure good in-house information flow through effective internal communication
• develop long-term budgets that facilitate necessary investments and strategic initiatives through planned reductions in current operating expenses at all levels
• prioritise investment funds for development initiatives that generate the greatest efficiency gains, and strengthen and further develop the processes for measuring and realising gains from our technology investments and other major development initiatives
• emphasise sustainable solutions in the performance of tasks and new procurements
• maintain a balance between tasks and resources to prevent excessive strain on employees
• maintain the tripartite cooperation by involving public sector unions and the safety service in both formal and informal cooperation arenas
• actively ensure that the National Audit Office of Norway is an inclusive workplace characterised by a positive working environment and diversity at all levels of the organisation
• our culture, leadership and employee participation will be characterised by constructive feedback, our values of team spirit, openness and respect, and compliance with management and employee requirements

We will:

• clearly communicate our conclusions, our criticisms and our recommendations
• maintain a professional, active relationship with the media, which is an important channel for communicating the results of our audits and investigations to the public
• participate in relevant arenas to highlight our social mission and communicate our message
• take an active role in the debate on increasing efficiency and productivity in the public sector
• make it easy for our target groups to find the information they need and explore new communication channels based on insights about their needs
• actively and systematically solicit input on what we should investigate from key stakeholders, different sectors and across Norway, and use it to further develop the agency
• be open about our own organisation, how we work and prioritise tasks, and what we do to improve our processes
• share data and facilitate reuse within the law and the relevant source protection