The Acting Auditor General, Robert Cohen, yesterday met with the Deputy Speaker of the National Parliament, John Moffat Fugui, and briefed him on the Office of Auditor General’s Annual Report 2014 that had been submitted to the Speaker just before Christmas.
The Acting Auditor General provided to the Deputy Speaker a summary of the main audit findings on the accounts of the national government, the nine provincial governments, and thirteen state owned enterprises and statutory authorities (Honiara City Council has not provided any financial statements since 2010).
A copy has also been prepared for the Speaker, Ajilon Nasiu, upon him taking up occupancy of his office.
During the briefing, the Acting Auditor General said that the 2014 Annual Report reports on audits conducted on accounts during 2012 and 2013 and so the information has become somewhat outdated – particularly as some of the provincial governments and national government agencies had made some good progress during 2014 to improve their financial management systems and annual accounts.
However, the Acting Auditor General also said that much of the 2014 Annual Report was still relevant – as it described important financial management issues that still needed remedying to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of use of the people’s resources and to deliver improved services to the people.
The Acting Auditor General said that the 2015 Annual Report on the Office’s 2014 audits will be released much earlier this year to ensure that the information is more timely and up to date, and thereby more useful to decision-makers and stakeholders including the general public.
The 2014 Annual Report was released to the public following the conclusion of the briefing.
