AUDITOR General Deodat Sharma on Thursday presented the Report of the Auditor General for the Year 2024, to the Speaker of the National Assembly, Manzoor Nadir, in keeping with the statutory deadline of September 30.

He has also issued 18 Performance Audit reports to date (this includes this presentation).

According to the Auditor General, this report will be laid in the National Assembly by the Speaker, after which it will become a public document.

The 2024 report on the public accounts of Guyana, and on the accounts of ministries/departments/regions for the fiscal year of 2024, and a Review of Asset Management at the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) for the period January 01, 2021 to June 30, 2024, were handed over in the Members of Parliament Lounge at the Public Buildings, Brickdam, Georgetown.

He announced that with the Performance Audit, they are currently looking at four audits, two of which are expected to be finished by the end of this year, and the remaining two, next year.

Furthermore, the Auditor General underscored that his Office has, in the last year, undergone a number of training and development sessions.

Addressing the Speaker, Sharma said, “Two Engineers from the Works and Structures Department attended a workshop facilitated by the Public Procurement Commission on Contract Management. This area forms a fundamental part of the work carried out by the Department in the review of projects across Guyana.”

By understanding the Public Procurement, Common Procurement Fraud Schemes and Summary Red Flags and Contract Management, Sharma said overpayments found are now recovered and not disputed by the contractors of the ministries/ departments.

In his efficient presentation, the Auditor General affirmed that the office conducts real-time audits with some of the ongoing projects, adding that although they continue to see overpayment of contractors, “the Finance Secretary, (Sukrishnalall Pasha), is there to ensure that all of these contractors either repay the money or to ensure that they do the work that they were paid for,” he said.

In the oil and gas sector, Sharma said he currently has around three/four members of staff. This is fairly new and will be approved by the Public Accounts Committee at a later date.

He disclosed that in this area, the Canadian Audit and Accountability Foundation (CAAF) facilitated a workshop on Auditing the Oil and Gas sector for Members of Parliament and Officers at the Audit Office.

This, he said, has further strengthened the Office’s competence in this sector, where three officers attended the Crude Oil Training, facilitated by the Ministry of Natural Resources, focusing on Marketing Terminology and Sovereign Hedging Programmes.

At the same time, he said CAAF hosted several sessions on how to conduct effective Public Accounts Committee, Report Writing and Questioning Techniques for Performance Audit Hearings with the former Public Accounts Committee. This was done in order to improve the effectiveness and relevance of the performance-audit reports.

Expressing sincere appreciation to his staff, the Finance Secretary, Accountant General and the Heads of Budget Agencies and their teams, for their continued co-operation and support.

Meanwhile, the Speaker in his remarks reminded the Auditor General that he is responsible for auditing every government department/agency, and anywhere our tax dollar goes.

“You have the responsibility for preparing the audits for all of those resources. So, this is a monumental task, and those of us who have traversed over the past four decades or so, participation in our government system would understand how far Guyana has come. Being today a leader not only in CARICOM as it relates to our public accounts, in order to general functions, but throughout the Commonwealth,” Mr Nadir said.