19th Auditor General’s Report presented to Speaker

The Auditor General’s Report for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2022, was on Friday handed over to the Speaker of the National Assembly, Manzoor Nadir.

This is the 19th report of the Audit Office under the tenure of the Auditor General, Deodat Sharma.

In addition, to the 2022 audit, three performance audits were handed over. These were an assessment of the Ministry of Education Hinterland School Feeding Programme, the Implementation of the International Health Regulations 2005, and a Review of the Ministry of Labour Occupational Safety and Health Inspection Process.

These reports will be made public once they have been laid in the National Assembly.

“In addition, we have also issued audit reports for 102 NDCs, six municipalities, and 69 statutory bodies. In fact, the Guyana Post Office Corporation which was in arrears, now has its account audited up to 2021,” Sharma disclosed during the ceremony.

In carrying out its mandate, to date, 16 performance audits have been issued by the Auditor General’s office.

Sharma noted that capacity building has also been a key priority of the audit office, to strengthen the ability to conduct and examine performance audits and reports, through its partnership with the Canadian Auditing and Accountability Foundation (CAAF).

As a result, 15 management and middle-management officers have participated in a train-the-trainers programme facilitated by the Canadian Audit and Accountability Foundation (CAAF).

Additionally, a total of 17 officers have also benefitted from report writing training, in strengthening the capacity to ensure clarity and critical insights through the audit reports.

Importantly, another 23 officers from the Audit Office have attended training to develop the office’s capability to perform audits in the extractive industries.

Meanwhile, Speaker Nadir commended the Auditor General’s office as an impactful and credible voice in monitoring how the country’s resources are expended.

“We have a long way to go. With much more resources at our disposal, the work is going to explode exponentially,” the speaker noted.