Auditor General's Office (AGO) has signed an agreement to outsource the audits of local councils to eight local firms.
The firms have been tasked with conducting audits on the financial statements of local councils, which are distributed to eight clusters. This is the first time the AGO has outsourced audit work to different firms.
The government has made efforts to decentralise the government by providing more power and responsibilities to local councils. As such, the state budget has allocated a USD 97 million grant to local councils and provided them with the authority to establish means to generate revenue.
Speaking at the signing ceremony, the Chair of the Parliament Committee on Decentralisation Ali Niyaz said the government aims to empower councils and make citizens more independent. He said the local councils have been given a larger budget with more means to generate their own revenue. He also said he is pleased to see the AGO is establishing a system by which local councils can be audited.
Also at the ceremony, Auditor General Hussain Niyazi said the work to audit local councils has been outsourced to eight local firms but that the audit office will be reviewing their reports. He said the audit office will make it its highest priority to fulfil its mandate and provide an adequate mechanism by which local councils can be audited. He added that it is important that local councils are spending their funds in accordance with established laws and regulations.