Determining the Audit Focus

By the end of the planning phase of a performance (or value-for-money) audit that will consider gender equality, auditors will need to decide the audit’s focus.

For an audit or line of enquiry that is focused on gender equality, the auditors will need to select areas where there is significant gender sensitivity and where there is a risk to the achievement of gender equality or significant unintended differential impacts on genders.

There are many ways in which a performance audit can integrate gender equality considerations. Some audits will focus exclusively on gender equality while others will cover gender equality only as a secondary topic. This varying level of effort and focus directed at gender equality can be thought of as a spectrum (Figure 2) that has different categories, from “marginal or no focus” to “exclusive focus.”

• Marginal or no focus – There is no formal plan to audit gender equality, but the issue comes up during an audit.
  
  
• Non-specific focus – Some audit steps touch on gender equality even though there is no specific gender equality criterion.
  
  
• Specific focus – Structured audit work on gender equality is part of a larger audit.
  
  
• Exclusive focus – This audit is focused on gender equality.

Figure 2

The Spectrum of Audits of Gender Equality

Audit work on gender equality will also vary in other dimensions. For example, an audit of gender equality could:

• Be government-wide, sector-specific, or organization-specific.
  
  
• Look at routine management systems or at specific gender equality initiatives within an organization.

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