Amended Audit Act improves governance, management of public funds

According to the National Audit Department, the law has not been amended since 1991 and needs to be strengthened in line with developments in governance and public fund management.

It is also to empower the role of the Auditor-General in maintaining financial management integrity, enhancing efficiency and strengthening public trust in the government, said the department in a statement today.

Amendments to Act 62 involved inserting new provisions and amending existing provisions to cover, among others, auditing by other bodies including companies in which the government has an interest in the form of financial guarantees and auditing through the Follow The Public Money Audit.

"It also involves the creation of a new provision empowering the Auditor General to issue guidelines to facilitate enforcement of provisions in Act 62 and to make recommendations to deal with any serious irregularities that occurred during accounting public funds it is auditing," it said.

It is also to expand the power of the Auditor General to carry out follow-up audits to any recommendations, comments or views provided in The report of the Auditor General (LKAN).

The Audit (Amendment) Bill 2024 was unanimously passed by the Senate yesterday.

The department also expressed its gratitude to 21 members of the Senate who participated in the debate on the bill.

Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Law and Institutional Reform) M. Kulasegaran when winding up the debate on the Audit (Amendment) Bill 2024 said the amendments aim to strengthen the act with new provisions to meet current requirements and expand the duties of the Auditor-General.

For the record, Act 62 has been amended twice, in 1978 and 1991. The 1978 amendment addressed performance auditing requirements, focusing on economy, efficiency and effectiveness under Section 6(d) of Act 62, while the 1991 amendment provided for changes to the Schedule under Section 11 of Act 62.

-- BERNAMA