The 2025–2027 Strategic Plan contains a concrete goal for the National Audit Office of Norway to contribute to the development of public auditing internationally and provide assistance to SAIs in countries where we can contribute to improving capacity and independence.

Under the priority area securing expertise, it is determined that we are to co-operate and share experiences with other SAIs, audit communities, and academia to advance the auditing of the future.

Development of public auditing

Internationally, most of the development work on public auditing is done under the auspices of the International Organization of SAIs (INTOSAI), which is the global umbrella organisation for SAIs.

The organisation develops standards and a common international framework for public auditing, contributes to knowledge sharing and promotes the independence of SAIs.

The National Audit Office of Norway contributes to INTOSAI in several ways. The chair of the Board of Auditors General is a member of the Governing Board of INTOSAI by virtue of being the chair of the INTOSAI Development Initiative (IDI).

In addition, Director General Åse Kristin Berglihn heads the overarching coordinating body for the further development of international standards for
public auditing, and the National Audit Office of Norway is represented on the committees responsible for developing standards for financial auditing, performance auditing and compliance auditing.

We are also members of other committees and working groups in INTOSAI that are particularly relevant to our work.

Co-operation with the Nordic SAIs remain a priority. In 2024, the National  Audit Office of Norway hosted the Nordic Auditors General’s meeting. Key topics at the meeting included improving efficiency in the Nordic SAIs and exchanging experiences on the implementation of new technology and the use of artificial intelligence in auditing.

We also co-operate with SAIs at the forefront in areas including data analysis, visualisation, use and auditing of machine learning algorithms and artificial intelligence. The National Audit Office of Norway is currently co-operating with the SAIs in the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, Finland and Brazil.

Professional support to partner institutions in developing countries and nascent democracies

Common international standards on auditing provide us with a good basis for assisting other countries’ SAIs in their respective efforts to improve the management of public resources.

This in turn supports Norway’s foreign and development-policy objectives by  promoting good governance and combating corruption.

Support for auditing IT security in the Balkans

Public administrations are undergoing rapid digitalisation worldwide, and services and systems are increasingly exposed to the internet. The number of cyber attacks has risen in step with digitalisation.

To protect data and public services from disruption and exposure, IT auditors need to understand how security breaches occur and how they can be  prevented.

Internationally, we are experiencing an increasing demand for greater expertise in IT systems and a better understanding of how they affect security and risks in different organisations.

Our IT audit community has expertise and capacity that we contribute  internationally. Among other things, we provide audit support to several SAIs in the Balkans, as these institutions and countries have been subjected to extensive cyber attacks with major consequences.

Costs of our development co-operation

In 2024, we spent NOK 11.3 million in development assistance funds for OECD-DAC, compared with NOK 11.8 million in 2023. This figure includes our development co-operation costs, which consist of direct costs and salary for participating staff members.