YES – It was a success!

Between 4^th and 7^th November, the UK National Audit Office hosted the fourth Young EUROSAI 2019 conference (YES 2019), in London. Shaped by the enthusiasm of the delegates and NAO colleagues alike, and a little singing, the event was a huge success. 79 delegates from 39 Supreme Audit Institutions from Europe and beyond came together to discuss “How Supreme Audit Institutions can remain relevant to their audiences”. Social, political, and economic attitudes are shifting globally, and delivery models for public services are changing and becoming more complex. There are vast amounts of data available, and the technologies to store, access, and analyse these data are constantly developing. These phenomena are intertwined, and impact on individuals, communities, societies and governments in positive and negative ways. As public auditors, we need to recognise these developments and adapt appropriately to ensure we are still considered relevant by our audiences.

The conference sought to identify the shared challenges that we as Supreme Audit Institutions face, and their potential solutions. This was informed by three days of discussions and talks, including from the UK Chair of the Public Accounts Committee, Meg Hillier, UK Comptroller and Auditor General, Gather Davies, investigative journalist David Hencke, Oxford University academic, Nikolas Kirby, and EUROSAI President and President of the Turkish Court of Accounts, Seyit Ahmed Baş.

These challenges and solutions were then presented to a panel of the UK Comptroller and Auditor General, Gareth Davies, Auditor General of Finland, Tytti Yli-Viikari, and the President of the Netherlands Court of Audit, Arno Visser. After receiving earlier encouragement from the expert panel to be more creative with the presentations, the panel certainly got what they asked for! Of the four groups who presented, the conference saw two protests, three hand-drawn infographics, and a series of cartoons that each identified the shared challenges Supreme Audit Institutions are facing and the solutions that should be employed.

The challenges and solutions were based around four areas stemming from the conference theme:

-  Ensuring SAI’s are valued by government

-  Ensuring SAI’s maintain complete independence

-  Ensuring SAI’s are trusted by their audiences

-  Ensuring SAI’s are credible institutions

The YES 2019 organising committee are still working to pull all the challenges and solutions together, following feedback from the panel. In the coming weeks we will disseminate the final output of the conference, and we encourage all EUROSAI institutions to discuss the challenges and solutions identified, not just with those who attended, but across your whole office. Overall, the conference was well summarised by one delegate, who said it was astounding to learn how many of the challenges we each face in our own institutions are also faced by many others around the EUROSAI group!   

You can find out more about YES 2019 and the day-to-day proceedings by following its Twitter account (https://twitter.com/YES_2019_UK) or visiting the website https://yes2019.org.uk/.  Pictures, videos, and Tweets are still going up!