As Republic of North Macedonia is facing accelerated pace towards EU membership and the Government continues to implement necessary reforms in the key areas, United Nations Development Program (UNDP) North Macedonia is advancing its efforts to support the crucial public finance management reforms. From 2019, UNDP North Macedonia is implementing the project “Support to Public Finance Management Reform in the Republic of North Macedonia” which is financed by the Ministry of Finance of the Slovak Republic and the Slovak Agency for Development Cooperation under the auspices of the Public Finance for Development Programme. 

A key aspect of the project is contributing to capacity building of the State Audit Office (SAO) in conducting performance audit in order to fulfil the goals stated in the programme for work, particularly in performance audits aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), ensuring that North Macedonia can efficiently execute SDG audits and adhere to international standards set by INTOSAI. 

The support was provided in various forms including external expertise (consultancy), organizational support for numerous trainings, workshops, events, and other activities which that facilitated knowledge exchange and resulted with the creation of the first ever, Performance Audit Report for the readiness of the Republic of North Macedonia for the implementation of the SDGs and the Joint Performance Audit Report for the readiness of North Macedonia and Serbia for the implementation of the SDGs. This report marks a milestone in the collective efforts to align national strategies with global objectives aimed at sustainable development making the county part of 74 countries in the world that have prepared such a report.