MOOC: Introduction to environmental auditing in the public sector

3.2. Audit objective

Setting an audit objective is necessary to guide an auditor through the audit without losing focus. The audit objective states what will be analysed in the audit. The objective often mentions which of the 3 Es forms the basis of evaluation.

Be cautious of words that make the objective ambiguous, such as ‘adequately’ or ‘sufficiently’. If such words are used, there is a need to define what level of achievement is adequate or sufficient.

Environmental audit objectives should intrinsically be focused on solving an environmental problem.

Examples of audit objectives:

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NAO UK

The objective of the report is to examine how HM Treasury and HMRC manage tax measures with environmental objectives, including the work undertaken to design, monitor and evaluate them. It also explores how the exchequer departments use their resources to manage the relationship between the wider tax system and the government’s environmental goals, including its statutory commitment for the UK to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

picSAI Sweden

The objective of the audit is to audit whether the government has taken into consideration the major changes in the climate and energy area in its assessment of the long-term sustainability of public finances.

picNAO Estonia

The objective of the audit is to assess whether the measures implemented by the state have helped to reduce the pollution load of Lake Peipus and the achievement of the good status of the lake.

Reading suggestion!

INTOSAI (2019) GUID 3910: Central Concepts for Performance Auditing (audit objectives, pp. 16-21)

ADM example of audit objective

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Tip for an auditor

An audit objective should answer the question: What do we want to find out?

Thinking exercise – ADM (1/5)

You have chosen the problematic environmental/sustainability issue to audit in your country and given a title to your audit (thinking exercise in sub-chapter 2.3).

Please phrase the objective of your imaginary audit. Write it down for yourself.

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