The Corte dei conti is fully involved in the international cooperation and actively contributes to develop the related activities through the support of the International Affairs Office.
The Corte dei conti carries out its international activity in the following contexts:
EU Contact Committee
The Corte dei conti has been working with other Supreme Audit Institutions in the European Union as a member of the Contact Committee since 1960. The Contact Committee’s members are the presidents of the EU member states’ Supreme Audit Institutions and of the European Court of Auditors. The Contact Committee is an autonomous, independent and non-political assembly that is convened every year as a forum to discuss matters of common interest.
Within the Contact Committee, the Corte dei conti chairs the Working group on preventing and combatting irregularities and fraud and the Expert network on the independent assessment of national public economic policies.
The Corte dei conti is also active member of the Working Group on Activities on Value-Added Tax, and of Fiscal Policy Audit and Europe 2020 Strategy Audit Networks.
Cooperation with European Court of Auditors (ECA)
The Treaty on the functioning of the EU requires the ECA and national audit bodies of the Member States to cooperate in a spirit of mutual trust, while maintaining their independence. Cooperation between the Supreme Audit Institutions (“SAIs”) of the EU Member States and the ECA dates back to the beginning of the Court's existence in 1977 and has increased over the years. Today the ECA actively cooperates with EU Member State SAIs through the Contact Committee framework.
INTOSAI
The International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions – INTOSAI – (https://www.intosai.org/) was established in 1953. This global organization has 190 members; its Governing Board meets every year. INTOSAI is supported by regional working groups, taskforces, committees and the INTOSAI Development Initiative (IDI). Such umbrella organization also publishes the International Journal of Government Auditing.
The Corte dei conti plays leading and participative roles in committees and working groups to respond to new audit challenges, including the Anticorruption Task Force (contribution at the pre-COSP event held in Abu Dhabi on December 14-15, 2019 ), the Working Group on SDGs and Key and Sustainable Development Indicators, the Working group on Value and Benefits of SAIs (WGVBS), the Forum of Jurisdictional Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs)/Network of General Prosecutors established in the context of the WGVBS, the Working Group on Financial Modernization and Regulatory Reform, the Working Group on Evaluation on Public Policies and Programs, the Capacity Building Committee and the Committee on Knowledge Sharing and Knowledge Services.
EUROSAI
The European Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions – EUROSAI - (https://www.eurosai.org/en/) is one of the seven INTOSAI regional organizations. Its Governing Board consists of eight members; the Chairmanship rotates every three years. The Corte dei conti was member of EUROSAI Governing Board from the very beginning of EUROSAI activities in 1990 and then in the six years of further membership from 2002 to 2008.
We are currently member of the Working group on the Audit of Funds Allocated to Disasters and Catastrophes, the Task Force on Audit & Ethics, the Task Force on Municipality Audit; we cooperate in the Project Group organized for the new generations of auditors in the YES – Young EUROSAI Conference and in the “Parallel Audit Workforce 2030” launched during the 2019 EUROSAI-ASOSAI meeting and coordinated by the Israel Supreme Audit Institution.
We are also member of the Project Group on Auditing the Response to the Covid-19 pandemic (http://www.eurosaiop.org/news_detail/156/).
Cooperation with other INTOSAI regional organizations
The Corte dei conti also participates in several initiatives shared with other regional organizations, and in particular with AFROSAI, ARABOSAI, ASOSAI and OLACEFS. In 2019, the Corte dei conti, attended the III EUROSAI-ASOSAI Joint Conference “Emerging Issues and Emergency Situations” (Jerusalem, March 10-14) and the 1st EUROSAI-AFROSAI Seminar “Sharing experiences about auditing for SDGs. A view from different Regions” (Lisbon, November 21-22).
Global Audit Leadership Forum (GALF)
The Global Audit Leadership Forum (GALF) is an informal forum made up of the heads of innovative audit institutions from 19 countries. It was set up in 2000 on the initiative of the US Government Accountability Office. The Auditors General and the Chairmen meet on a yearly basis to discuss topical and emerging issues that are important to their governments, parliaments and to their own organizations. The Corte dei conti took part and contributed to the meetings of the GALF.
Bilateral Cooperation
The Corte dei conti developed a wide and long experience in bilateral cooperation with other SAIs. In chronological order, the last cooperation agreement entered into by the Corte dei conti was that with the General Comptroller of the State of the Republic of Ecuador in order to enrich and develop external audit activities through projects or action programs with the aim of analyzing issues related to jurisdiction and/or audit.