Auditor General set on meeting goals

THE Office of the Auditor General has set itself the mammoth task of tabling 166 audit reports during the 2006-07 financial year and conducting at least 18 asset inspections countrywide to ensure public property is not abused.

This was revealed in the National Assembly on Tuesday, when Minister of Presidential Affairs Albert Kawana motivated a budget of N$23 million for this office. This amount is an increase of N$3 million over last year’s budget.On behalf of Auditor General Junias Kandjeke, Kawana said because of the shortage of qualified personnel, the Office would be forced to use private accounting firms to audit the books of regional councils, municipalities and parastatals.The firms will be appointed by way of tender.The Office of the Auditor General has further committed itself to assisting the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee in seeing to it that recommendations made in performance audit reports are enforced, that the current backlog of audit reports is cleared and that the quality of audit reports is improved.Permanent Secretaries can expect regular contact with the Auditor General in efforts to decrease and eradicate unauthorised expenditure and clearance of suspense accounts, of which many ministries are repeat offenders.This year the Auditor General’s Office plans to publish three performance audit reports to advise Government on best practices.The reports will draw the Assembly’s attention to obstacles regarding the economic, efficient and effective use of resources in the public sector and make recommendations on how the use of public resources can be improved.By 2008-09, the Auditor General plans to be on track to table all 115 financial reports it is responsible for auditing in that year.This amount is an increase of N$3 million over last year’s budget.On behalf of Auditor General Junias Kandjeke, Kawana said because of the shortage of qualified personnel, the Office would be forced to use private accounting firms to audit the books of regional councils, municipalities and parastatals.The firms will be appointed by way of tender.The Office of the Auditor General has further committed itself to assisting the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee in seeing to it that recommendations made in performance audit reports are enforced, that the current backlog of audit reports is cleared and that the quality of audit reports is improved.Permanent Secretaries can expect regular contact with the Auditor General in efforts to decrease and eradicate unauthorised expenditure and clearance of suspense accounts, of which many ministries are repeat offenders.This year the Auditor General’s Office plans to publish three performance audit reports to advise Government on best practices.The reports will draw the Assembly’s attention to obstacles regarding the economic, efficient and effective use of resources in the public sector and make recommendations on how the use of public resources can be improved.By 2008-09, the Auditor General plans to be on track to table all 115 financial reports it is responsible for auditing in that year.