New development: Translating global standards in low-maturity contexts.A co-produced sustainability audit guide for public internal auditors

This new development article presents the co-production of a Sustainability Auditing Guide developed for government internal auditors operating in different-maturity sustainability contexts within the Internal Audit Community of Practice (IACOP) of the Public Expenditure Management Peer-Assisted Learning (PEMPAL) network and Comparative International Governmental Accounting Research (CIGAR) Network. The article documents how the guide was developed through interaction between practitioners and academic experts to support internal audit functions in engaging with sustainability commitments in a practicable, context-sensitive manner. In particular, it focuses on the role of epistemic communities as bridging mechanisms that enable the translation of global sustainability standards into audit practices adapted to diverse institutional settings. By analysing the co-production process and the resulting structure of the guide, the article illustrates how epistemic communities can support policy adaptation within the public sector internal audit.