The International Board of Auditors for NATO (IBAN) and the Supreme Audit Office of Poland (Najwyższa Izba Kontroli, NIK) have signed a cooperation agreement in Warsaw to enhance their exchanges and collaboration. This event marks an important step forward in developing synergies between member states' audit offices.
A favourable context for strategic alignment
The agreement has been signed at a key moment for Poland, which celebrated 25 years of NATO membership in 2024 and has held the presidency of the European Council since 1 January 2025. This dual role illustrates the country's strong commitment to supporting the values and missions of NATO and the European Union.
The President of the NIK, Mr Marian Banaś, gave a warm welcome to the IBAN delegation, composed of Mr Radek Visinger and Mr Sébastien Lepers, respectively chair and member of the Board. The meeting, which took place at the NIK's offices in Warsaw, was an opportunity to explore several areas for collaboration, including auditing methods and practices: performance audits, compliance audits, and audits of financial statements and NATO Security Investment Programme (NSIP) projects.
Enhanced cooperation to address defence and security challenges
At a time when public defence and security expenditure is steadily increasing - Poland's defence budget is expected to reach 4.7% of GDP in 2025 (+0.6% compared to 2024) - rigorous auditing and expertise sharing are more important than ever. For this reason, IBAN and the NIK intend to pool their knowledge in order to increase transparency and efficiency in defence expenditure.
IBAN also took the opportunity to praise the NIK for its responsiveness: in the framework of its presidency of the EUROSAI Working Group on Environmental Auditing (WGEA), it sent two high-level experts, Aneta Modzelewska and Michał Dudek, at short notice to participate in IBAN's annual auditor-training seminar, held in Brussels on 20-24 January 2025.
An agreement that opens up new opportunities
The signature of this agreement seals a promising collaboration between IBAN and the NIK. By encouraging exchanges of expertise, capacity building and innovation in auditing practices, this joint commitment contributes to the robustness and efficiency of NATO member states' control mechanisms.
This partnership demonstrates the willingness of audit offices to work closely with IBAN to address future challenges and ensure rigorous management of defence and security sector resources. A firm commitment to transparency, performance and international cooperation.
