The following sections describe how to develop the different components of a complete corporate plan. It is worth noting that there are strong links between all the components in a corporate plan where they complement each other and even in some instances may overlap. In developing this guideline, similar work done by INTOSAI’s regional bodies have been consulted as reference points to ensure that there is uniformity in what is being developed. The reference point for these guidelines has been the IDI Strategic Planning Handbook (2008) from which the processes and checklists have been adapted for the ease of SAIs to follow in developing their corporate or strategic plans.
To develop and implement a corporate plan, it encapsulates the entire corporate planning process that is depicted in the flow diagram below for the benefit of SAIs.
Pacific Association of Supreme Audit Institutions (PASAI) 47 Figure 7: Steps SAIs have to go through to develop and implement a Corporate Plan
A corporate plan should be developed with the involvement of responsible staff who would deliver the key outputs and deliverables with the support from the senior management of the SAI. Depending on the size and resources of SAIs, some would prefer to form an in-house committee to be known as the corporate or strategic planning team. It will act as a project team to take the lead in planning and developing the corporate plan with relevant input from responsible divisions and the head of the SAI. The team could include:
support services area under the guidance of the head who must define the financial requirements and assess the human resources and capacity needs in the short, medium and long-term ;
Plan the Plan
Conduct Needs Assessment
Articulate Vision, Mission and Values
Identify Strategic Issues
Determine Goals and Objectives Develop performance Measures Develop Implementation Matrix Document Corporate Plan D ev el o p m ent P h ase o f C o rp o rate P lan
Market the Corporate Plan
Develop Operational Plan
Manage Change Develop the Business
Plan Im p le m enta tio n P h ase o f C o rp o ra te P lan Report on SAI’s Performance Monitor and Evaluate
Corporate Plan Implementation
Pacific Association of Supreme Audit Institutions (PASAI) 48 IT, financial audit/performance audit division heads who would be engaged in outlining
the timeline for the audit services together with the technology support, taking into account the resources and time required.
Development of an effective corporate plan requires continuous and open collaboration between the corporate planning team and staff at all levels within SAIs.
There is no correct order in which the corporate plan document should be presented. It all depends on the SAI’s preferences and requirements. Appendix 3 provides an outline of a corporate plan. An example of a corporate plan of a SAI is also provided in Appendix 4.
The key components of the corporate plan that need to be analysed by SAIs are as follows:
financial and human resource requirements;
risk assessment and mitigation strategy;
SAIs output and performance targets;
linkage with the government development plan (national strategic plan);
linkage with business and functional /operational plan; and
linkage with INTOSAI Strategic Plan (Lima Declaration)
Human Resource Requirements
The first step of a corporate plan is to conduct a broad analysis of the human resources and other capacities to implement the plan. In addition, the analysis of the current and potential sources of resources and partners to help fill capacity needs should also be undertaken.
A list of questions that SAIs could use to evaluate their human resource requirements are:
do you have enough people with policy, technical, process or communication knowledge and skills to implement the projects / activities in the corporate plan? If not how will you manage the shortfall?
will implementing audit staff require enhanced and new skills? How will these skills be built, over what timeframe and at what cost?
to recruit new staff, or a consultant or to outsource, how long will it take and at what cost and who should be given this responsibility?
Pacific Association of Supreme Audit Institutions (PASAI) 49 Office System and Support Functions
How much extra work in terms of recruitment, training or additional funding would be required in the following areas of operation?
finance and administration;
information technology;
human resources;
technical support;
research and development.
Finance Requirements
This stage of the plan would require a general assessment of the financial requirements of delivering the key outputs throughout the lifecycle of the corporate plan. In general, this estimate should be high level without showing detailed potential sources of income and an estimated cost of delivering the outputs.
SAIs could check with each other to find examples of funding levels for support services, audit and other specialised software or equipment to perform audits services.
SAIs could develop a simple table in Excel spreadsheet that shows the projected budgeted expenditures for the next 12 months and actual and prior figures. It is imperative that a base year be used and that year would be the final year of the corporate plan that has just ended.
Table 5: Standard SAI Expenditure Group Financial Requirement
CURRENT YEAR SAI BUDGET Expenditure Group as Government Budgets Prior Year Budgeted Expenditure (Revised) Prior Year Actual Expenditure Current Year Actual Current Year Budget (Revised) Following Year Budget Variance Shortfall
Pacific Association of Supreme Audit Institutions (PASAI) 50 Risk Assessment and Mitigation Strategy
As you develop your corporate plan, you should also assess the risks most likely to affect it and what could be done to mitigate them.
Risks are conditions that could be an impediment to any plan or project. There are high risks and if they are not overcome, they are likely to prevent the project from achieving its goals and objectives.
Highlighted below are potential risks that are common to SAIs. These risks should be discussed and where applicable, be included in their corporate plans. Risk mitigation strategies are to be developed as part of the corporate plan.
Examples of potential risks to SAIs:
dissatisfied audit clients;
dissatisfied parliamentary and public accounts committee;
negative media publicity;
loss of reputation;
legislative changes impacting the SAI;
staff turnover;
inadequate security of data and information;
action of union;
government policy may affect the operation of the SAIs;
lack of government support;
continuous support of government;
lack of corporate knowledge.
It is important that SAIs ensure that any identified risks are dealt with appropriately based on the risk mitigation strategies developed.
Outputs and Performance Targets of SAIs
The key outputs are those that support the vision of SAIs and provide added value to the SAI services.
Pacific Association of Supreme Audit Institutions (PASAI) 51
SAIs may discuss the following key result areas in their corporate plans:
clients and stakeholders – the primary clients and stakeholders of SAIs are the parliament/legislature, citizens, public entities, public accounts committee, media, and other audit institutions;
people – they are the most valuable resource of SAIs who collectively represent the office and deliver the quality products and services;
products and services – these include regularity audits, financial statements audits, performance audits, special investigation audits, IT audits, better practice guides and SAI newsletters;
business performance – this is achieved through contemporary business practices and a structured business planning and management process
Apart from the above components, there are frameworks and tools that can be used by SAIs to conduct assessments on their needs. The framework used in this guideline is IDI’s Capacity Building Needs Analysis Guide (2009) that provides in detail how the analysis could be carried out by SAIs under the eight domains. When carried out, the above components would be classified under one or multiple domains.