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Jehangir says AGP office helps institutions achieve integrity, improve operations
ISLAMABAD: Calling Department of the Auditor General of Pakistan (DAGP) an important institutional partner, Public Accounts Committee Chairman Syed Khursheed Shah on Wednesday said that the committee carries out its function of the parliamentary oversight based on the audit reports on utilisation of the public finances.
He said that improvement was a continuous process and not only the DAGP but PAC should also take initiatives for improving the process of oversight and bring innovation in the existing process. As part of a holistic approach towards public sector auditing, “we have revamped the way of working of PAC,” he said.
“Now review of current audit reports has been started which is a significant milestone PAC has achieved,” Shah said. Briefing the PAC members who visited the AGP office here, Auditor General of Pakistan Javaid Jehangir said that the department helps public sector organisations achieve accountability and integrity and improve operations.
He said that the mandate of the DAGP was to support the governance responsibilities of oversight, insight and foresight. The Auditor General of Pakistan provides unbiased and objective assessment to the parliament about whether public resources were managed responsibly and effectively to achieve intended results.
The Auditor General of Pakistan issued 152 Certification Audit Reports, 1208 Compliance Audit Reports, 199 Foreign Aided Projects Audit Reports, 79 Special Studies and 56 Performance Audit Reports during year 2016-17 while recovery of Rs88.56 billion was made at the instance of audit against the expenditure of Rs 4.20 billion during 2016-17, Jehangir said.
Briefing on major issues highlighted in the audit reports, he said that weak internal controls, consistent non-compliance to rules, variation between expenditure and allocation, public money kept outside the government accounts, non-compliance to the PPRA Rules 2004, deficient contract management, encroachment of the state land, deficient asset management, delayed/non-recovery of the government dues and tax evasion remained among the major issues.
He said that the department was working to improve financial and organisational independence through strategic plan 2015-19. The AGP has approved strategy for implementation of the International Standards of Supreme Audit Institution (ISSAI) and a high-level committee was monitoring the implementation of the standards, he said.
He said that the department has conducted gap analysis using ISSAI Compliance Assessment Tools while 530 officers have so far been trained under USAID Technical Assistance Grant, he said. Among other initiatives taken under a strategic plan are strengthening of inspection, regulation, vigilance and monitoring wing, installation of a dedicated toll-free helpline for registering public complaints and suggestions and introduction of the whistle-blowing policy, he said.