The Auditor-General's Report 2017 Series 2 tabled in Parliament today contained 298 recommendations aimed at improving weaknesses in the public sector.
Auditor-General Madinah Mohamad said 83 of the recommendations were related to activities carried out by federal ministries, departments and statutory bodies; 42 were related to management of federal government companies and agencies and 173 were related to management activities by ministries, departments, agencies and management of state government companies.
She said 16 performance audits and eight government company management audits were carried out at the federal government level.
"At the state level, 25 performance audits and 13 management audits were carried out on government companies. The audit covered various fields including management of programmes/activities, construction, procurement, systems/ICT, maintenance and revenue management," she said in a statement to Bernama.
The report also included confirmation of 2017 financial statements of federal statutory bodies, Federal Consolidated Funds, trust accounts, and other agencies.
"The National Audit Department audited 148 financial statements for the 2017 financial year on federal statutory bodies, Federal Consolidated Funds and Trust Accounts and other agencies," she said.
Of the total, 110 financial statements were given Audit Certificate Without Reprimand, 17 given Audit Certificate Without Reprimand with Emphasis of Matter, Audit Certificate with Reprimand (six), Conflicting (one) and Disowning (one).
In addition, 13 agency financial statements have not been finalised, of which nine were due to the fact that the chairperson of the board has not been appointed and board meetings could not be convened to verify the audited financial statements, while four financial statements were delayed and could not be finalised due to system problems and management issues.
Madinah (photo) said based on the financial management performance report of 19 federal departments, two departments achieved excellent levels, good (10), satisfactory (five) and unsatisfactory (two).
Audit carried out on the financial management performance of 14 State Royal Malaysian Customs Departments showed three departments achieved excellent levels, good (seven) and satisfactory (four), while financial management performance of Universiti Teknologi Mara campuses in 13 states showed three achieved excellent levels, good (seven), satisfactory (two) and less satisfactory (one).
Madinah added that as at Nov 21, 2018, there were 325 financial statements to be audited and those which have been verified involved 13 state governments, state statutory bodies (151), local authorities (148) and state Islamic Religious Councils (13).
Certification as at Nov 21, 2018, involved 13 state governments, state statutory bodies (140), local authorities (138) and state Islamic Religious Council (12) bringing the total to 303.
"Based on the audit of 303 financial statements of state governments and state government agencies in 2017, 240 financial statements were given Audit Certificate Without Reprimand, Audit Certificate Without Reprimand with Emphasis of Matter (35) and Audit Certificate With Reprimand (28).
"A total of 16 financial statements are still being audited due to delays in submission of the financial statements and supporting documents, while the remaining six financial statements have yet to be submitted to the auditors for auditing purposes," she said.
According to Madinah, the performance audits were conducted in accordance with international auditing standards, namely the International Standard of Supreme Audit Institutions (ISSAI) 3000, 3100 and 3200.
She said beginning with the 2017 Series 2 report, the National Audit Department had improved the performance audit approach by emphasising on output and outcome evaluation, as well as the effectiveness of service delivery and the level of satisfaction of target groups on the government programmes or projects.
The report could be accessed through the National Audit Department website from today.
– Bernama