New Audit Act to impose surcharges

by Ranil Wijayapala

The proposed Audit Act will empower the Auditor General to surcharge government officials found responsible for any lapses the Auditor General Gamini Wijesinghe told the Sunday Observer.

He said the responsibility of directing the relevant government officials to take corrective measures lies with COPE and COPA . The two Committees will issue directives based on audit reports submitted to Parliament.

He said the Auditor General's Department will also broadbase the auditing process without confining it to financial auditing alone.

"Basically we did financial auditing. The public complaint is due to this. There is criticism that many things are not reflected in the audit reports.

This is because the overall picture cannot be seen in these reports", the Auditor General said.

Public sector institutions will now be subject to financial auditing , value for money auditing and management auditing.

The Auditor General's Department will look whether social responsibilities have been fulfilled.

He said the proposed Audit Bill is now before the Attorney General's Department and it will be presented to Parliament soon