Independence and Professionalism in the Institutional Design of Supreme Audit Institutions in Latin America and the Caribbean

The primary purpose of this research is to determine whether the institutional design of supreme audit institutions (SAIs) in Latin America and the Caribbean meets the criteria of independence and professionalism established in the principles of the Lima and Mexico Declarations of the International Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI) as a condition for the development of an efficient external governmental audit whose results may provide input for improved performance by audited bodies for the benefit of society. In accordance with the descriptive variables defined for this paper and in function of the information sources consulted, we were able to establish that the institutional design of the regional SAIs fulfil these principles. Nevertheless, because this conclusion is based on an analysis of the constitutional and legal norms that regulate SAIs and the documents generated by SAIs, such as auditing guidelines and manuals, management reports and audit reports, we cannot say that this effectively means that SAIs meet the parameters of independence and professionalism intended by the INTOSAI. Instead, political, institutional and communication challenges have arisen that must be overcome to move from formal compliance to real application.