The enabling role of the INTOSAI development initiative to audit SDGs for public value in the Western Balkans
Giuseppe Grossi, Veronika VakulenkoPurpose
This study aims to explore the enabling role of the International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions’ (INTOSAI) Development Initiative (IDI) to audit sustainable development goals (SDGs) and embed public value thinking within a transitional Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) context of the Western Balkans (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia).
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is built on a qualitative research design; empirical data were obtained by conducting ad hoc interviews with IDI experts on SDGs auditing and auditing experts in the Western Balkans, complemented with secondary data analysis. To analyse the empirical data, the authors applied Moore’s Strategic Triangle (1995, 2013), which offers a more nuanced perspective on what constitutes value-driven public accountability, legitimacy, trust and the operational capacity of a transitional SAIs context.
Findings
The transition from compliance-based to performance auditing, including the more recent and more complex practice of SDGs auditing, is becoming more broadly institutionalised across many transitional SAIs contexts, including the Western Balkans. The authors presented IDI’s enabling role in supporting SAIs in emerging economies in their SDGs auditing by enhancing their professional capacity, institutional legitimacy and accountability mechanisms. Still, the authors also empirically observe that the shift towards public value orientation, focused on legitimacy, trust, professional capacity, collective outcomes and societal well-being, remains at an early stage in the Western Balkans. It also reveals that public value creation involves balancing competing demands, reconciling global expectations with national priorities and reforms and navigating resource asymmetries and competing stakeholders’ expectations.
Originality/value
This paper contributes by offering a nuanced perspective on the conceptual and empirical development of SDGs auditing within transitional SAIs contexts. It highlights IDI’s enabling role in supporting SAIs in transitional contexts to embed public value thinking into their audit frameworks, while maintaining methodological rigour and adherence to internationally recognised sustainability assurance standards.