The National Audit Office's work is guided by an audit and oversight plan, and its audit topics are decided by the Auditor General. The plan has now been supplemented with 20 new audit topics for the next few years. In its oversight activities, the NAOF is preparing for the combined county and municipal elections to be held in the spring.
The NAOF audits and oversees topics that are significant to central government finances and to society. Auditors monitor the financial management of central government authorities comprehensively and annually assess the risks related to the cost-effectiveness and legality of various central government activities. Audit topics are selected based on the monitoring of the audit area and risk analyses.
New audit topics especially in the security sector
The audit plan 2025 –2028 has now been supplemented with 20 new audit topics:
Development of digitalisation in the administrative sector of the Ministry of Justice
Preparation and decision-making related to NATO
Police licence administration
Partnerships of the Finnish Defence Forces
Steering of contract fire brigade activities
Promoting building repair and renovation
Reform of general upper secondary education
System of central government transfers to museums and performing arts institutions
Use of service vouchers and temporary agency workers in the wellbeing services counties, the City of Helsinki and the HUS area
Impacts of business subsidies
Allocation of R&D funding granted by Business Finland
Funding base for security of supply
Use of AI in the central government
Control tasks of the Finnish Customs
Wellbeing at work among central government staff
Budgeting procedures for wages and salaries
Concentration of government grants
Compliance with the Act on Criteria for Charges Payable to the State
Spending, revenue and structural reviews
Audit of the Government’s annual report
The targeting and scope of the new audits will be specified when their more detailed planning begins this year. The audit and oversight plan also lists all ongoing audits and future follow-ups. The aim of follow-ups is to examine whether the audited entities have taken adequate measures on the basis of the conclusions and recommendations presented in the audits.
In addition to the varying topics, the NAOF carries out annual financial audits on all ministries and accounting offices as well as three off-budget state funds. In addition, the financial audits cover the final central government accounts and the consolidated calculations on central government finances for 2025. Financial audits are carried out both specifically per each accounting office and in a centralised manner across accounting office boundaries.
The NAOF reports regularly on its diversified oversight tasks
The audit and oversight plan also describes the NAOF’s oversight tasks related to election campaign and political party funding and the activities of the Finnish Transparency Register. In 2025, the NAOF will prepare particularly for the new kind of combined municipal and county elections, where the number of those subject to the disclosure obligation will be tens of thousands.
The NAOF provides Parliament regularly with information on its oversight activities. It reports on the operation of the Finnish Transparency Register annually and submits a report to Parliament once during the parliamentary term. A report on the oversight of political party funding is submitted annually in March. The NAOF will report on the election campaign funding in the 2024 European Parliament elections in February and on the spring 2025 county and municipal elections in December.
A separate appendix on fiscal policy monitoring and audit
The National Audit Office also performs the tasks of the national independent fiscal institution (IFI). The purpose of fiscal policy monitoring is to ensure that fiscal policy promotes the sustainability of general government finances and complies with fiscal rules. The NAOF reports on the main observations of its fiscal policy monitoring twice a year. In 2026, a combined fiscal policy monitoring and audit report will be submitted to Parliament on the observations concerning the entire parliamentary term.