All flaws worth pinpointing
Auditor general says in response to Saifur's comment
Staff Correspondent
Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of Bangladesh Asif Ali yesterday defended the reports prepared by his office even on 'insignificant issues', saying audit reports should pinpoint all irregularities in financial transactions, big or small.Commenting on remarks by the finance minister and law minister at a high profile regional conference of auditors in the capital, the CAG said all transactions, whether they are large or small, should be audited. Speaking at the conference, he also suggested developing internal audit systems of different public sector organisations to ease the CAG staff's work on small transactions. He however said the performance of internal audit systems of 70 per cent public enterprises is very poor, creating a scope for massive corruption by their officials. Finance Minister M Saifur Rahman on Monday and Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Moudud Ahmed yesterday criticised the CAG's office for preparing reports on 'trivial issues'. Speaking at the closing ceremony of the two-day regional auditors general conference on 'Harmonising institutional efforts for promoting accountability in the public sector', the law minister echoed the finance minister's remarks at its inaugural ceremony. Moudud said, "CAG's office conducts audits on very insignificant issues, which also makes the reports difficult and at once time-consuming to read." It should make reports on major financial transactions only, which will make the reports reader-friendly. The conference was attended by 30 delegates including a number of auditors general from the Saarc and other countries of the region. The CAG's office in association with the World Bank and Canadian International Development Agency (Cida) organised the conference. Presiding over a business session on the 'Role of parliamentary financial committees in promoting accountability,' Harun-Al-Rashid, chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (Pac), the only constitutional parliamentary body responsible for auditing public sector expenditure, observed that the Pac reports should be discussed in parliament to ensure accountability of the government. Shahad Chowdhury, director general of Works Audit Directorate, who made a presentation at the business session, said the Pac of last two parliaments submitted only nine audit reports but none of these reports were discussed in parliament.
| 
