---
title: "OECD provides targeted technical assistance to Austria's nine regional audit institutions through EU funding; AI-driven audits improve efficiency"
sdDatePublished: "2026-08-08T11:20:00Z"
source: "https://reforms-investments.ec.europa.eu/technical-support-instrument-0/digital-transition/improving-audit-function-ai_en"
topics:
  - name: "artificial intelligence"
    identifier: "medtop:20001298"
  - name: "government"
    identifier: "medtop:20000593"
locations:
  - "Austria"
---


OECD provides targeted technical assistance to Austria's nine regional audit institutions through EU funding; AI-driven audits improve efficiency

Improving the Audit Function with AI - Reforms and Investments

Supporting reforms that help unlock digital growth potential and deploy innovative solutions for citizens and businesses

Improving the Audit Function with AI

The European Commission provided technical support to the nine regional audit institutions (RAIs) of Austria to enhance audit practices through the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and data analytics. By evaluating current practices and capabilities across RAIs, assessing how public audit institutions worldwide use AI to strengthen oversight and by developing complementary use cases, it aimed to demonstrate the potential to improve audit efficiency and foster the adoption of AI-supported methodologies.

The digitalisation of public administration has significantly increased the volume and complexity of audit data, making traditional methods based on sampling and manual review increasingly insufficient. Audit institutions worldwide are expected to modernise their tools and methodologies to enhance effectiveness and ensure alignment with international auditing standards. AI and advanced data analytics offer strong potential to improve audit quality by enabling full-data analysis, detecting patterns and anomalies, and automating routine tasks. This project closely aligns with the EU’s priorities by supporting the digital transition of public institutions and strengthening oversight capacities, thereby contributing to safeguarding the rule of law.

The OECD provided targeted technical assistance to the nine Austrian RAIs, supported and funded by the European Commission’s Technical Support Instrument (TSI) from 2024 to 2026. The support focused on improving audit practices through advanced data analytics and AI and strengthening internal capacities. Key activities included assessing existing internal practices, reviewing international AI applications in auditing, identifying improvement opportunities, and developing tailored AI use cases.

Given the growing complexity and volume of data in public administration, this support aims to enhance audit efficiency, precision, and compliance with evolving international auditing standards.

The project strengthened knowledge and practical understanding of AI across the participating RAIs and developed concrete use cases demonstrating its application in audit contexts. It provided stakeholders with a diagnostic of existing practices, identified relevant AI opportunities, and delivered pilot solutions, recommendations, and a structured training program. The main benefits include improved awareness, practical tools and clearer guidance for responsible AI adoption. In terms of impact, the project fostered cooperation between RAIs and introduced a more structured approach to AI deployment, encouraging institutions to start from governance and process adaptation and enabling more efficient, consistent and data‑driven audit practices.

You can read the documents related to the project here:

Recovery and Resilience Facility RRF - Impact RRF – How it works See all

RRF – How it works

Technical Support Instrument TSI - How it works TSI - Our projects See all

TSI - How it works