Are supreme audit institutions ready for uncertainty?

The inefficient fight against the COVID-19 pandemic and earlier insufficient readiness to counteract terrorist attacks raise the question about the role of the supreme audit institutions (SAIs), and more precisely, about their functions in the situation in which decision-makers take decisions in uncertainty. What do we know about countries' responses to Covid-19? One may generalise that the States did not prove themselves in conditions of uncertainty. In all countries, the situation is almost the same, too late decisions regarding anti-epidemic quarantine, lack of necessary measures to protect doctors and patients, too few respirators. Based on the analysis of several randomly selected SAIs activities from different parts of the Globe, it was found that the audit methodology used by SAIs and tailored to a predictable environment may be inappropriate in uncertain conditions. Most of the analysed SAIs did not find weak signals related to pandemics. Those who found such signals did not use them in foresight, which results in the parliaments, governments, and the public being not ready for global threats. Such a situation creates risks for entrepreneurs. Although the study focused on SAIs as the most important public auditors, one may state that the findings are crucial for all auditors, including the private sector and decision-makers.  

 See:  Dobrowolski, Z. 2020. The supreme audit institutions readiness to uncertainty. Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Issues, 8(1), 513-525. https://doi.org/10.9770/jesi.2020.8.1(36)

Open access license of the publication was funded by the Jagiellonian University in Kraków.