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Independence from the politics is the most important rule of supreme audit institutions. This was stated in the interview to the TASS correspondent by the Vice-President of the Supreme Audit Office of Poland (NIK) Wojciech Kutyla, who will head the Polish delegation at the upcoming XXIII Congress of the International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (INCOSAI) in Moscow at the end of September.

"We don't do politics and we only cooperate on business issues. This is sort of a standard," he said.

"Supreme audit institutions should be independent of both financial and other types of pressure. This is a key value that SAIs should adhere to," Kutyla stressed.
Cooperation with Russia

According to the NIK representative, Poland and Russia cooperate on audit at the working level. "Experts meet and work out certain documents, textbooks, standards and regulations for audit," he explained. "The cooperation is quite close and friendly," Kutyla added.

"Our Moscow colleagues are very active. We often meet on international venues and appreciate their work in several working groups. As part of INTOSAI, we cooperate in the Subcommittee on Internal Control Standards, Working Groups on Key Indicators, IT, on the Fight against Corruption and Money Laundering, Financial Modernization on Regulatory Reform," said the source of the agency.

Moscow Congress

XXIII INCOSAI will be held in Moscow on September 23-28. The organization includes 194 audit institutions. 850 participants are expected at the forum.

According to Kutyla, this meeting, which is held every three years, "develops important instructions and standards for all audit institutions to ensure that they reflect reality to the maximum possible extent, so that it would be possible to create recommendations for the authorities, government, citizens, and self-governing bodies on this unique picture of the current state of affairs."

"The motto of INTOSAI is Experientia mutua omnibus prodest (Mutual Experience Exchange Benefits All). It's a good thing we have the opportunity to learn how other countries are dealing with certain problems," he said. "It's useful to know what's going on with your neighbour and what mistakes he has made, so that you could learn from them."

According to the NIK representative, this year's talks and discussions in Moscow will focus on two key topics: information technology for the development of public administration and the role of supreme audit institutions in the achievement of national priorities and goals.

"These topics appeared because of the modified approach to the role and tasks of supreme audit institutions. A few years ago, their activities were just checking how the national budget was spent and whether budget funds were spent correctly and according to the law. Now, the trend mostly aims at monitoring whether the government is achieving its goals and whether these goals are being set at all. The audit of the task performance is becoming more and more popular, not just the financial one," Kutyla stressed.