National Audit Bill to be tabled in Parliament shortly

By Nishel Fernando

The long-delayed National Audit Bill is receiving Cabinet approval and is expected to be presented to Parliament shortly, according to the Minister for Special Assignments, Dr. Sarath Amunugama.

Speaking at the launch of the 12th Annual Inspection Workshop of the International Forum of Independent Audit Regulators (IFIAR), Dr. Amunugama said, “The Auditor General (AG) will be happy to know that the Audit Bill, which has been causing him great concern for a long while with its hang-ups, is now being approved by the Cabinet and should come to Parliament very soon.”
The formation of the National Audit Service Commission under the 19th Amendment to the Constitution has been set back by the delay in passing the National Audit Act.

The National Audit Commission is expected to speed up the audit process while ensuring its accuracy. Moreover, the Commission will also distribute the powers of the AG to ensure the transparency of audit proceedings and utility of public funds. It would also allow the floors for new laws to be introduced to…avoid misappropriation of public funds.
Dr. Amunugama highlighted that the improvement of auditing standards is a key priority for the Government, as Sri Lanka is looking at foreign investments to foster
economic growth.

“The economic strategy of the Government is to look at the private sector as the engine of growth. Even so, we have so many public corporations which are predominant in vital sectors of our economy. All this suggests that our auditing, reporting and oversight of the country’s financial is of great significance. We cannot really think of a breakthrough in economic growth unless we set right many of the problems that beset our companies, particularly in the area of auditing. If we are to bring more capital to our companies or go for joint ventures, investors would like to know the state of the health of these companies. Not only that; they would be interested in the type of procedures being followed, reporting systems, and returns to the investors and other stakeholders. I think that’s an area we should all concentrate on,” he elaborated.

Reminiscing over the time State institutions dominated the economy, he said, “We have to remember that we are transiting from a period when the Government ran almost all major enterprises. In that period, auditing was a superhuman task. It wasn’t easy because there were no shareholders other than the Government who could insist on performance, dividends and returns. Rather than that, these corporations looked towards the Treasury to fill in the gaps.”

“As a former Minister of Finance, I can say that at the end of each month, there was a long queue outside my office made up of the heads of these corporations, waiting for cheques from the Treasury to make payments to their employees; it was that bad. There were no evaluations; there were problems in the management and auditing. The Government was more or less compelled to look for alternate approaches, particularly joint ventures, so that there would not only be infusion of fresh capital, but equally importantly, there would be more modern management techniques,” Dr Amunugama emphasized.

The three-day forum is hosted by the Sri Lanka Accounting and Auditing Standards Monitoring Board (SLAASMB) at the Cinnamon Lakeside Hotel from 20 February. The global discussion is attended by over 110 professionals representing audit regulators from 40 countries around the world.

Central Bank Governor Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy also participated in the event as guest of honour. IFIAR’s Chairman, Brian Hunt, and IFIAR Secretariat in Tokyo, Japan’s Executive Director, Carl Renner, were also among the prominent figures that graced the occasion.

Meanwhile, Government sources said that the bill was sent to the Ministry of Finance for observation, after which it will be sent back to the Cabinet for final approval.