Audit Bill to modernise and give financial independence to Auditor General passed

The Audit Bill has been unanimously passed in Parliament  which gives the Office of Auditor General financial independence, protects the Auditor General and staff and allows them to audit entities where taxpayers' funds are going.

The Bill has repealed the Audit Act 1969 and also provides for standardised provisions in line with international standards and best practices.

While tabling the Bill following the Committee of the Whole sitting which considered the Bill clause by clause, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Professor Biman Prasad says the Bill has strengthened independence, which includes the financial independence, powers given to the Auditor General and the protection of the Auditor General and the staff.

He says it provides the Office financial independence which says very clearly that the Office of the Auditor General may determine the expenditure of such funds in the manner in which the Auditor General thinks fit.

Professor Prasad says according to the International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions, the independence of the Auditor-General’s Office as the supreme audit institution can be ensured only if the heads are given appointments and re-appointments with a sufficiently long time and this is already part of the process that they have had with the Constitutional Officers Commission in consultation with the Minister responsible for Finance, appointing the Auditor General.

While acknowledging the contribution of the previous Auditor General, Ajay Kumar and the current Auditor General Finau Nagera, Opposition MP and Public Accounts Committee member Alvick Maharaj says the number of changes that were made in the Bill clearly showed the bipartisan approach that was taken by the Committee.

He says this is one of the reasons he has always been vocal in Parliament — that they need to send these Bills to the Committee, even under Standing Order 51, even if only for one month, to review them.

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Maharaj says the Pacific Association of Supreme Audit Institutions says their financial independence should only come if the budget is approved by Parliament itself, not by the Minister of Finance because they are actually auditing a particular entity and this is something that they need to look into if they want to get full independence.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Trade Manoa Kamikamica says they are fixing the problems they have inherited.

He says it is very interesting to listen to the Opposition as they have almost had an about-turn as Maharaj congratulated the previous Auditor General who was sacked by the previous government.

While responding to remarks by Maharaj on institutional independence, Kamikamica says Parliament approves the budget of the Auditor General's Office by Committee so what he is saying is not quite correct.