The Finance Delegation, the Control Committees and the Federal Council have acknowledged the 2017 annual programme of the Swiss Federal Audit Office (SFAO). The SFAO defines its programme independently. It contains approximately 170 audits, and around 70 of those will be published, like last year. The SFAO is thus continuing its efforts to ensure transparency.
The SFAO defines its annual programme independently every year. It is the result of risk analyses and clarifications carried out beforehand that enable the SFAO to prioritise its resources in an optimal manner. The programme also contains the mandates of the Federal Council and Parliament, such as the audit and follow-up of key IT projects or this year’s governance audit of unemployment insurance.
The SFAO’s teams will go to get an onsite impression of the effectiveness of the network of Swiss foreign representations or to evaluate the cost efficiency of measures to combat fine particles at the Federal Office for the Environment. Other audits will address the Federal Office of Public Health’s subsidies, the construction of federal asylum centres, the effectiveness of evaluations in the Federal Administration and the promotion of biogas plants. The governance of the export checks of the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs as well as RUAG’s compliance measures will likewise be audited. Moreover, the SFAO will address the Federal Tax Administration’s measures to implement the exchange of information in the area of taxes.
With the support of the departments’ general secretariats, the SFAO will pay particular attention this year to follow-up audits and implementation of its most important recommendations. According to Parliament, the Federal Council should focus more closely on these recommendations. The Federal Assembly has approved a budget of CHF 27.1 million for the SFAO, which will have 110 employees in 2017.