Auditor-General's Report 2007: 70pc of govt agencies rated 'good' or better

2008/09/02
BERNAMA

KUALA LUMPUR: The financial management of the majority of government agencies at the federal and state levels is good, says the National Audit Department in the Auditor-General's Report 2007.

According to a statement by the auditor-general yesterday, of the 212 agencies that were given the Accountability Index (IA) assessment, 4.7 per cent were categorised as "very good", 66.5 per cent were "good" and 28.7 per cent were considered "satisfactory".

Federal agencies with "very good" financial management were the Prime Minister's Department, Public Service Department, Coordination and Implementation Unit, Sarawak Manpower Department, Attorney-General's Chambers and and Malaysian Administrative Modernisation and Management Planning Unit.

Federal statutory bodies which obtained a similar assessment were Bank Kerjasama Rakyat Malaysia Bhd and the Malaysian Deposit Insurance Corporation, while the state agencies were the Johor Corporation and Pahang Geoscience and Mineral Department.

Aspects of financial management assessed included operational management control, budget control, receipts control, expenditure control, trust funds and trust accounts/deposits management, assets and inventory management, investment management, loan management and financial statements.
The statement said the agencies were told of aspects of their financial management that needed to be improved.

"If the agency heads are fully committed to and consistent in implementing improvements, the prospect of them receiving a better rating is very bright," it said.

The government agencies can also make use of the IA rating system as a benchmark when assessing the progress of improvement efforts in their financial management from time to time.

The statement said the auditor-general had issued the audit certificate without reprimand on the financial statement of 115 federal statutory bodies and 44 state statutory bodies and 47 local authority financial statements.

Audit certificates with a reprimand have been issued for nine federal statutory body accounts, three state statutory body financial statements and two local authority financial statements.

In general, the preparation of financial statements of the Federal Government, state governments and federal statutory bodies was improving.

"However, it is still too early to give a view on the financial statements of state statutory bodies and local authorities because not all financial statements have been submitted for auditing."

There were delays in the submission of state statutory body and local authority financial statements for 2006 and last year.

The delays were caused by bodies not maintaining a proper accounting record. For local authorities, the law does not specifically fix a period when they have to submit their accounts for audit.

Fifty-seven performance audits have been done at the federal level and 76 at the state level to assess how far government activities and projects have been planned and to assess their effectiveness.

The Audit Department is urging government agencies to learn from their weaknesses in planning, implementing and monitoring the activities raised in the performance audit.

According to the statement, most issues raised in the Auditor-General's Report 2006 had been dealt with. -- Bernama