Selected government agencies have not given “sufficient priority” to the Office of the Auditor-General during annual audits.
Auditor-General Ajay Nand said this in his foreword message in the 2019 Audit Report on Economic Services Sector tabled in Parliament recently.
“Majority of the agencies have been very co-operative throughout the audit process,” he said. “Some agencies have not given the work of my office sufficient priority.”
He said the audits of 2018-2019 and previous years’ financial statements and timely preparation of the audit reports had been “hampered” for a number of reasons.
“Draft agency financial statements submitted considerably late for audit or drafts submitted within the set timeline are found to be not acceptable, hence need to be resubmitted. “Considerable delay in providing comments to draft management letters.
“Cancellation of exit meetings or non-confirmation of date and time for exit meetings. “Not providing supporting documents to support management comments for audit verification prior to finalisation of management letters.
“Delay in signing audited accounts and management representation letters and returning them for issue of the audit report.”
