{{The number of government institutions that received a clean audit report in the 2012/13 Auditor Report has increased. For the first time, all ministries, provinces and some government agencies received a clean audit report. }}
Presenting his findings to the joint parliamentary seating on Monday afternoon, Obadiah Biraro, the Auditor General noted that the number of clean audits had increased to 32% compared to 28% in 2011/12 financial year.
Biraro acknowledged the contribution of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning through vigorous capacity building accorded to internal auditors.
“Issues of professional accounting and compliance to the principles of the organic law regarding public finance have tremendously improved,” Biraro told parliamentarians.
According to Government’s Accountant General, Patrick Shyaka the improvements are attributed to training that focuses on areas of weakness, strengthening financial reporting, increasing awareness of the auditor general recommendations and implementing penalties.
“We realized that in addition to providing general Public financial management training a focused training was crucial to address weaknesses. We also strengthened financial reporting aspect and implemented penalties such as freezing budgets to encourage compliance with procedure,” Shyaka said.
However as the Auditor General indicated, a lot remains to be worked on. For example in the latest report, expenses that lacked official justification and wasteful expenditures amounted to over Rfw 3 billion in the 2012/13 financial year.
“I believe we have made substantial achievement but that does not mean we are done yet. A lot has to be improved on,” Shyaka pointed out.
Every year, the Auditor General, in line with article 184 of the constitution, submits to both chambers of parliament, prior to the commencement of the session devoted to the examination of the budget of the following year, a complete report on the state’s financial statements for the previous year.
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