Management Review of Data - Irregularities in the Doing Business Reports from 2016 to 2020 - Verification Report

Jul 19, 2026

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Verification Report assessing how World Bank DEC management reviewed data changes related to irregularities in the Doing Business 2018 and 2020 reports. The review scope covers changes made after the institutional review process and before final publication, using DEC’s defined process. Group Internal Audit independently verifies completeness of the process, confirms that nine specific changes affecting four countries are corrected in the DMS, and reports one discrepancy plus potential deviations that management addressed.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages16

Reading Time40 min

AccessFree to download

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

1.1 Background

1.2 Overall Conclusion

2. Summary of Verification Results

Public Disclosure Authorized Public Disclosure Authorized VERIFICATIONREPORT # Management Review of Data Irregularities in the Doing BusinessReports from 2016 to 2020 DECEMBER 8,2020 REPORT NO.FY21-2-4-2104615 Verification Report of Management Review of Data Irregularities in the DoingBusiness Reports from 2016 to 2020 Distribution Issued by: Anke D'Angelo,Vice President and Auditor General,GIAVP l To: David Malpass,President,World Bank Group,EXC ## Verification Report of Management Review of Data Irregularities in the DoingBusiness Reports from 2016 to 2020 1.EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ### 1.1 Background On Auqust 27,2020,World Bank management announced reports of data irreqularities in theDoing Business 2018 report(published in October 2017)and the Doing Business 2020 report(published in October 2019). Development Economics Vice Presidency(DEC)management conducted a review of datachanges in the Doing Business(DB)reports from 2016 to 2020 in response to the datairregularities reported by the DB team.The review was completed in December 2020 and theresults of the review have been described in the report:“Review of Data Irregularities in DoingBusiness".DEC management defines the data irregularities as "data changes that were madeoutside of the appropriate review process and were not justified by the DB methodology or byany new information provided to the DB team”.For details on the review process followed bymanagement,refer to Appendix 2 DEC Management Review Process Flow. The management review was limited to data changes that occurred after the circulation of dataas part of the institutional review process¹and before the final publication of the correspondingDB reports.The review was carried out by the current DEC management(who has been inplace since June 2020,and who did not have managerial responsibility for the production andpublication of the DB reports covered in this review),with inputs from the DB team. As requested by the World Bank Group President's Office (EXC),Group Internal Audit(GIA)conducted an independent verification of the DEC management review.The detailed objectives,scope,and approach are provided in the Terms of Reference in Appendix 3. Separately,at the request of the Board and DEC management,GIA completed an assurancereview of "Data integrity in the production process of the Doing Business Report"(FY21-2-2-2103656).The report was issued on December 8,2020. Verification Report of Management Review of Data Irregularities in the DoingBusiness Reports from 2016 to 2020 ### 1.2 Overall Conclusion GIA verified that DEC management systematically reviewed all data changes that occurred afterthe institutional review process for the DB reports from 2016 to 2020 in accordance with theprocess described in its report:“Review of Data Irregularities in Doing Business”(version datedDecember 3,2020).GIA concluded that the review process as defined by management issufficiently complete to identify data irregularities. DEC management concluded that these data changes were reasonable except for ninechanges,affecting four countries,which were reported by the DB team as data irregularities.The nine confirmed data irregularities are corrected in the Data Management System²(DMS)and documented in DEC management's review report. GIA's verification identified one data discrepancy (refer to verification objective 1 in section 2)and potential deviations (refer to verification objective 2 in section 2)in the DEC management'sreview process.GIA verified that management has addressed the data discrepancy andpotential deviations. GIA's verification did not cover the overall accuracy of the data and DEC management'stechnical judgement to determine changes as reasonable. The high-level conclusions of GIA's verification of DEC management's review are presented insection 2.The Detailed Verification Results are described in Appendix 1. ## 2.Summary of Verification Results GIA verified each of the six

FAQs

What prompted the DEC management review of data changes in the Doing Business reports?

World Bank management announced data irregularities in the Doing Business 2018 and 2020 reports, leading DEC to review data changes from 2016 to 2020.

What was the scope of the management review?

The review covered data changes made after circulation of data through the institutional review process and before final publication of the corresponding Doing Business reports.

What did GIA conclude about the completeness of the DEC review process?

GIA concluded the defined review process was sufficiently complete to identify data irregularities and verified that management addressed the identified discrepancy and potential deviations.

Jul 19, 2026

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