History of the Audit Office

The Audit Office of the Velocity Interoperability Network is a young institution, but its first work was done before it formally existed. The milestones below record the formation of the interim audit team during the transition period, the establishment of the Office and its first publications. They will be extended as the Office's programmed audits are completed.

1. Before September 2026

   Audit within member organisations

   Before the Office existed, each member organisation of the Network audited its own affairs through its own internal audit function and its own external auditors. There was no common standard of audit, no body able to examine the arrangements shared between organisations, and no single point at which the public could see how the resources of the Network as a whole were used.

2. 10 August 2026

   Interim audit team formed

   At the start of the transition period, 48 auditors seconded from the internal audit functions of member organisations were brought together as an interim audit team. Its task was to review the readiness of the departments and network services that would come into being on 6 September, and to form the staff of the Office on establishment.

3. 10 August to 5 September 2026

   Readiness reviews

   Over 27 days the interim team examined the transfer of assets and liabilities, the readiness of accounting systems, the transfer of staff records and payroll, the establishment of the estate, the governance of the network services and procurement during the transition. Drafts of the six reports were cleared with the bodies concerned in the final week, and responses to 22 of the 24 recommendations were obtained.

4. 6 September 2026

   Audit Office established

   The Audit Office of the Velocity Interoperability Network was formally established as the independent auditor of the accounts and administration of the Network, reporting to the Network Assembly. The Auditor General took office for a single term of seven years, and the interim audit team became the Office's staff in four audit directorates.

5. 6 September 2026

   Auditing Standards of the Network adopted

   The Auditor General adopted the six Auditing Standards of the Network and the Code of Conduct for audit staff, both taking effect from the day of establishment, and applied them to the six readiness reviews before their publication.

6. 6 September 2026

   Official website and first publications

   The Office launched audit.gov.vin and published its first six reports, numbered 2026-01 to 2026-06, the register of the 24 recommendations they made with the responses of the bodies concerned, and its audit programme of ten audits for the period to September 2027.

7. Forthcoming

   First fieldwork and the first accounts of the Network

   Fieldwork on the first programmed audits, of the registration of members and citizens and of the procurement of shared network services, begins in October 2026. The Network's first consolidated accounts, for the period from 6 September 2026 to 31 March 2027, are to be laid before the Assembly with the Office's certificate by 30 September 2027. The dates on which each report is published will be recorded here.

Announcements are published in the Newsroom. For the Office's present duties and organisation, see About the Audit Office; for the reports published on establishment, see Audit Reports; for the audits to come, see the Audit Programme.