AGO: "Sinkies' Money Safe!! Fully Accounted For!" WP TC Money Safe?

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An honorable member of the Coffee Shop Has Just Posted the Following:

Latest report from the Auditor-General's Office found the public's money "fully accounted for and in safe hands". http://$$$$$$$/1LgY2oK



He was responding to questions from Members of Parliament on last month's AGO report which had found several lapses in public sector entities. The lapses flagged involved the administration of grants, management of procurement or revenue contracts, management of contract variations and related-party transactions.

Mr Tharman explained that there are two types of audits conducted annually by the AGO. The first is a financial statements audit. The AGO checks if the Government financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the law and the audit covers the accounts of all public sector agencies.

The second type of audit is a selective audit which conducts checks on selected individual public agencies for compliance with rules and procedures, and also on internal controls. The AGO does these selective audits on a selection of agencies every year.

Mr Tharman said that for the Government financial statements, the AGO has given an "unmodified audit opinion". This is the same as in in previous years.

"That is to say, the Government financial statements, containing accounts of the ministries, departments and organs of state, are reliable, and public funds are properly accounted for. The same is true for the statutory boards, all of which received an unmodified audit opinion from their respective auditors for the Financial Year 2014/15," he stated.

Mr Tharman said all the public sector agencies highlighted in the AGO report have conducted their own investigations into the lapses and that except for one audit finding, concerning an agency’s procurement of event management services, all the other audit findings in this year’s AGO report were not repeat lapses.

Mr Tharman said each agency takes every lapse seriously, and ensures improvements are made promptly. All of AGO’s audit findings are looked into by the heads of the respective agencies.

In the case of ministries, this is the Permanent Secretary. Any suspicion of corruption or fraud is referred promptly to the Police, and investigated thoroughly.

As for statutory boards, their audit findings and any further investigations are reviewed by their respective supervising ministries.

In terms of this year's report, Mr Tharman said that where lapses were found, steps have been taken to improve procedures and oversight. This includes closer monitoring by supervisors and internal auditors, improved internal guidelines for officers, enhanced IT systems to enable better tracking, and developing fund administration guidelines for management of programme vendors.

Officers responsible for the lapses were taken to task. "Except for one case in the latest AGO findings which has been referred to the police for further investigation, all the other cases were due to administrative or procedural lapses," said Mr Tharman. "These were mainly due to a lack of knowledge, carelessness or poor supervision. But even where there is no evidence of fraud or corrupt intent, an officer may face serious disciplinary action, such as having his salary increment withheld and being debarred from promotion for a few years."

The Deputy Prime Minister said any AGO audit must be expected to turn up some lapses and oversights. He said that even with the best systems in place, human lapses will occur. The key is in maintaining a "sensible balance of rules" that do not weigh down the system, and to take the necessary actions when lapses do occur.

The Singapore Government ranked third globally, and came in tops in Asia, in the 2013-2014 Global Competitiveness Report for the least corruption in the economy. Mr Tharman said this could be attributed to clear and strict laws imposed by the government on all business dealings and transactions.

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/....html?cid=fbsg


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