Lessons on accountability

• Conclusions
• Recommendations
• Replies
• International audit of Tsunami aid
• Current status

The Court of Audit has investigated the aid provided by the Netherlands to the countries affected by the Tsunami in December 2004. The audit considered accountability, control and transparency of aid flows from the Netherlands. It was carried out as part of an international audit of Tsunami aid flows by 17 audit offices.

Conclusions

The Dutch government and the larger humanitarian aid organisations satisfied applicable accounting rules. The larger aid organisations actually provided more accounting information than required. Nevertheless, it was not always possible to follow aid flows from source to destination and establish what effect the aid had had. The audit trail is impeded by the absence of a standard on the provision of accounting information and the use of different definitions. There is also a lack of agreement on coordinated international controls and the exchange of audit findings.

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Recommendations

We recommend that a practical, phased approach be agreed with all stakeholders to adopt a common set of financial performance indicators with uniform definitions and reporting and accounting standards. We are willing to help the Dutch aid sector further enhance the transparency of and accountability for such aid flows.

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Replies

The Minister for Development Cooperation replied that he would consider the audit findings in his policy to improve accountability for aid flows. The Minister intends to discuss the transparency of and accountability for development cooperation with the House of Representative, the Court of Audit, private aid organisations and other stakeholders.

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International audit of Tsunami aid

The international Task Force on the Accountability for and Audit of Disaster-related Aid has audited the use of aid donated for the Tsunami disaster and published a report entitled Lessons on accountability, transparency and audit of Tsunami-related aid. The Task Force was made up of 17 supreme audit institutions and was chaired by the Netherlands until July 2008.

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Current status

We published our report on 16 December. The international report (available in English only) has been annexed to the Dutch country report and submitted to the House of Representatives.

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