American and British State Comptrollers will conduct an audit of the Israeli State Comptroller Office's financial and international comparison auditing methodology, following the signing of an agreement between Israel State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman and UK State Comptroller Gareth Davies at the governing board meeting of the European Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (EUROSAI) on Wednesday.
The peer review, which is set to begin in the coming weeks and expected to be completed by the end of 2023, will see US and UK representatives visit Israel and examine the methodologies implemented by Englman.
"Just as we demand efficiency and proper work from the audited bodies, and as all the state bodies in Israel are subject to auditing, I have decided to subject ourselves to an audit by the leading state comptroller offices in the world, so as to examine the audit activity and point out to us matters for preservation and for improvement that will further refine our work," said Englman. "I thank the state comptrollers of the United States and the United Kingdom for their willingness to get into the thick of things and lead the peer review."
The agreement was postponed due to COVID
The agreement came as part of a dialogue between the three state comptrollers, but the COVID-19 pandemic led to the postponement of the peer review date. A few months ago, the British parliamentary ombudsman was audited by Englman.
The signing was held as Israel is hosting the EUROSAI congress, and Englman is set to assume the role of president of the organization. The congress meets every three years to share best practices.
Israel's State Comptroller's Office conducts regular audits of the effectiveness, efficiency and reliability of government bodies to ensure that they are properly functioning, and releases the findings in reports.