The Finance Delegation and the Federal Council have acknowledged the 2020 annual programme of the Swiss Federal Audit Office (SFAO). This programme is drawn up completely independently by the SFAO, and is the result of a risk analysis spanning the entire scope of its portfolio, without exception.
In 2020, the SFAO will work on around 200 audits. With more than a hundred employees, it will carry out audits of financial statements, evaluations and reviews of the procurement of goods and services. As part of this programme, it plans to publish over 110 audits. Since 2014, the SFAO has actively published 257 audit reports.
The SFAO’s audit programme is drawn up following an in-depth analysis of the financial, operational or functional risks to which the Confederation and its administrative units are exposed. Over the years, this analysis has helped to identify more complex audit items with wide implications for society. These undertakings also involve a large number of people and will therefore be carried out in several different units simultaneously.
In 2020, the SFAO teams will assess, among other things, the process for disposing of military hardware, the renovation and extension of the high-security civilian laboratory in Mittelhäusern, construction work on Bern station and checks on illegal employment in the sharing economy. Follow-ups will be performed on some areas already audited by the SFAO, such as measures taken by the Federal Administration and RUAG in response to cyberincidents, the monitoring of deep-sea vessels for which the Confederation has paid sureties, and higher education professors’ secondary occupations.
Reviews of IT, construction and renovation projects as well as procurement and operating processes will also feature in the work of the SFAO’s employees.
In December 2019, the Federal Assembly reiterated its confidence in the SFAO’s work and allocated additional funds to allow it to better cover the risks identified. It has granted the SFAO a budget of CHF 29.8 million for 2020.