National Audit Office of Finland

In the financial audit reports for 2022, a total of 12 central government accounting offices were issued with cautions on errors and shortcomings in the financial statements and notes to the financial statements or in the operational efficiency data. There has been a substantial increase in the number of cautions issued to the accounting offices on true and fair information in the final accounts compared to 2021 when a similar caution was issued to five accounting offices.

Ensuring that the functions for which central government is responsible can continue without interruptions in all situations is a key task of the government. This requires an active risk management policy at different levels of central government and in state-controlled companies. The focus in the risk and continuity management of central government is on safeguarding the functions that are important for the functioning of central government and society at large as well as on adequate monitoring of the risks to central government finances, government guarantees and liabilities and sufficient access to information on them. Proper functioning of state ownership steering plays a significant role in the latter area.

Medium-term projections and statistics on general government finances provide a reliable basis for fiscal and economic policy decision-making. However, consistent and comprehensive statistical data on the finances of municipalities and wellbeing services counties is needed to support decision-making, and this data should be produced on a centralised basis. Correctly timed foresight reports and centralised coordination of information would increase the use of foresight information in decision-making and put the Government’s foresight activities on a more structured basis. In Government proposals, more attention should be paid to assessing the expenditure impacts of the proposed measures.

A customer ordering an information system may be stuck with a particular vendor’s technology, which may limit the possibilities of using the technology, solution or service they have purchased with other operators besides the original vendor. Vendor dependence is not always a negative issue, however. There are also ways of avoiding it.

The right to a clean environment is enshrined in the constitutions of Finland and many other countries. Nevertheless, the resolution the UN passed in July to recognise it as a human right is significant. Arguably, there is an unexplored connection between environmental auditing and many human rights such as the right to a healthy environment. The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) may have a key role in incorporating human rights perspectives into environmental auditing. In addition, environmental audits can have a role in realising the right to a healthy environment.

The National Audit Office (NAOF) has updated its audit and oversight plan, which guides its work, for the years 2023–2026. Twelve new audit topics were added to the plan. Changes are expected in the focus areas of fiscal policy monitoring.