– Sharma
SPEAKER of the National Assembly, Mr. Ralph Ramkarran, describing the Auditor General’s Report for 2008 as excellent work, said, yesterday, that a better quality of such reports can now be expected.
Consequently,  the people of Guyana will be better informed on how their taxpaying money is being spent, he said when receiving the compilation from the Auditor General, Mr. Deodat Sharma, at Public Buildings, Brickdam.
Several Members of Parliament (MPs), staff of the Audit Office and Clerk of the National Assembly, Mr. Sherlock Isaacs were present.
From the information provided by Sharma, Ramkarran said there were excellent advances in the Audit Department, in that staff was not only trained but recruited.
Ramkarran praised the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament for the manner in which the documentation was compiled and observed that, as the Auditor General and the PAC are the guardians of the country’s resources, encouragement to them is in order.
He assured Sharma that his compendium will be circulated as soon as possible.
Sharma explained that, despite the efforts of various Government Ministries, there is a lot to be improved.
He explained that the delay in presenting this report was because the one for 2007 was not submitted on time.
Giving an indication of the content in the 2008 document, Sharma mentioned that there were problems with overpayment to contractors, vouchers not being presented and various frauds, such as at Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) and in Region Four (Demerara/Mahaica).
He said he is optimistic that he will be able to present the 2009 report by the statutory deadline of September 30, 2010.
Sharma said, with the assistance secured through a technical cooperation agreement, signed in September 2007 between the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the Government of Guyana, three new units were established in 2008.
These are the Performance/Value for Money (VFM) Audit, for which 55 officers were trained; the Forensic Audit Unit for which 25 more received training and the Quality Assurance Unit for which 28 were trained.
Sharma said the Audit Office will be seeking to increase the percentage of VFM audits currently being done, while pointing out that six officers, including himself, underwent a nine months training programme in Canada, courtesy of the Canadian Comprehensive Audit Foundation.

VFM audit
He said the Audit Office has completed one VFM audit, an assessment of the living conditions of residents in the Palms Geriatric Home and that was laid in the National Assembly in December 2009.
Sharma said two more audits are currently in progress, a review of the Old Age Pension Benefits in Guyana, which is at the reporting stage and will be presented shortly and the audit of the procurement activities in Guyana, which is at its examination stage.
He said the Forensic Audit Unit was established to combat fraud and corruption in the country and is currently undertaking a number of investigations including the frauds in Region Four and at GRA.
Sharma said, to strengthen the competency of this unit, 10 officers are currently undertaking online courses in fraud auditing and forensic accounting.
He said the Quality Assurance Unit was created to ensure that all audits are conducted in compliance with applicable laws and regulations and the reports issued are appropriate in the circumstances.
Sharma said the Audit Office will be moving more towards risk based auditing, which is in keeping with its strategic plan for the next three years and, in this regard, a consultant will be attached to it, from the second quarter of this year, to give assistance and guidance.
He said the Office’s information systems capacity was further enhanced, especially its communication and collaboration capabilities and, during 2009, all of its technical officers were trained in the use of groupware software while some benefited from training in the use of audit and data analysis software.
Sharma said, to retain qualified staff, the Office continued to provide professional development training materials to staffers, through the acquisition of text books and examination kits.
He said efforts towards professional development have been recognised by the ACCA governing body and the Office was awarded the ACCA Accredited Employer Gold Status.
Sharma reported that, during 2009, 28 persons were recruited, taking the actual staff strength of the Audit Office to 138, of which 117 are technical personnel.
He said he expects an additional 15 to be recruited in 2010, making a total of 153 and the Office will be seeking to have its full complement by the end of 2012.
Sharma has completed 30 years in the Audit Office, five as Acting Auditor General.