Internal auditors not functioning well, Hickey says

 By CARMEL PILOTTI

AUDITOR-General Philip Nauga says that government agencies that operated under the public sector audit programme have well-functioning internal audit divisions.

He was answering a query by Public Accounts Committee chairman John Hickey on the state of the programme headed by the Finance Department.

Hickey said the programme needed to be reviewed as internal auditors in most government departments were not functioning well.

The programme was launched in 2005 and required departments and agencies that received yearly grants from the government to establish internal audit units and committees.

These committees appoint an independent member for increased transparency.

“Bodies that have audit committees do function but in others that don’t, it’s not so good,” Nauga said.

He said there were currently 28 audit committees established in 12 national agencies, seven provincial administrations and nine statutory bodies.

He added that there was better cooperation from government departments and agencies than in the past.

“I am encouraged by this new breed of leaders in government agencies and after spending a long time in the Auditor-General’s office and now that I am the boss I can see a difference,” he said.

Another inquiry was made into a claim of unremitted deductions worth K54 million by the National Housing Corporation to be refunded by the Finance Department of which the validity was questioned by the Solicitor-General.

Acting Finance Secretary Dr Ken Ngangan said he would have to meet with the National Housing Corporation management to discuss the claim.

“We will seek permission from the Solicitor-General to release such an amount of money,” he said.

Ngangan said his department was open to investigators of any kind as all their office documents were public information.