The International Board of Auditors for NATO (IBAN) is NATO’s six-member, independent, external audit body, which is obliged to report to the North Atlantic Council. The audit institution was established four years after the signing of NATO memorandum in 1953, the year INTOSAI was founded. According to the statutes defining the operating procedures of the organisation, its main task is to provide assurance to the government of the North Atlantic Council (NAC) and NATO member states that the common funds have been properly used to settle the authorized expenses. The work of the IBAN is guided by three fundamental values: independence, integrity and professionalism.
IBAN carries out three types of audits: financial audits of NATO institutions, performance audits of NATO and financial audits of the NATO Security Investment Program (NSIP). The audits are concluded with the issuance of a certificate (Certificate of Final Financial Acceptance – COFFA). The IBAN prepares an annual report on the results of its activities, on which, according to the decision of the North Atlantic Council, national supreme audit institutions can make comments and discuss it on an ad-hoc basis with IBAN. The professional system of relationships of the national supreme audit institutions of the NATO member countries is completed by the Defense Audit Seminars (DAS) organized on a regular basis. The development of the professional relationship between the State Audit Office of Hungary and the IBAN began even before NATO membership of Hungary (1999). At the invitation of the President of the IBAN, the first SAO delegation visited Brussels and got acquainted with the work of IBAN. Our auditors responsible for the audit of defence regularly participated in further trainings organized for IBAN auditors. The State Audit Office of Hungary was the first among the of SAIs of the new member countries to organize a DAS in Budapest.