INTOSAI Working Group on the Audit of Privatisation,
Economic Regulation and Public Private Partnerships

This guide

This guide is intended to provide auditors with clear information about all the main processes of privatisation, referenced to a glossary which contains definitions of the specialist terminology, phrases and acronyms which are used in English for discussing this subject.

It is not a manual as differing circumstances in the case of each country and deal mean that a bespoke approach is needed in each case. Nevertheless illustrative auditing frameworks for particular types of deals are given in Part 3 to give auditors a useful starting point when thinking about an appropriate framework. 

The Guide is divided into several parts.

Part One begins with the issues which face a government when they are considering the possibility of carrying out a privatisation (1. Reviewing Options and Preliminary Planning). It then considers the various matters a vendor should take into account once they have decided to privatize but before starting the privatisation itself (2. Pre-Sale Considerations), and finally describes the processes of the five major types of privatisation (3. Methods of Sale).

Part Two contains the glossary of specialist words which are used when dealing with this subject.

Part Three contains generic auditing frameworks which the NAO has compiled, in order to provide guidance about the best way to audit certain aspects of privatisation.

Part Four contains a bibliography