Internal Audit Activities Plan 2017-2018

The role of Internal Audit in the APA APA is a public institute with administrative, financial and patrimonial autonomy, which resulted from the merger of 10 entities (created by Decree-Law No. 56/2012, of 12 March), being a national authority in a set of matters inherent to the management of environmental resources and their informational and technological infrastructures. In order to fulfil its mission, tasks and competences, the APA has an organic structure of the vertical (classical) departmental type, consisting of central services and territorially deconcentrated services, with 701 employees in effective exercise of functions in the APA. The APA presents the challenges of modern organisations, depending on the existing organisation model (Corporate Governance1), in particular with regard to: — accountability of top managers for decisions taken (accountability), — management by objectives and multi-annuality, — use of management and evaluation methodologies and mechanisms close to those practiced in the private sector (delegation of decision-making powers at intermediate hierarchical levels, definition of internal control systems, evaluation of results and impact of their action), — good management of public money, according to criteria of economy, efficiency and effectiveness. These challenges alone make it urgent to set up an Internal Audit unit, whose mission is to provide support to the Board, through an objective, independent assessment of the various activities, operations, programmes, with a view to contributing to the improvement of governance, risk management and control processes.