Role of The Auditor-General

The Auditor-General has the responsibility to make sure that

• The methods by which public money is handled, whether revenue or expenditure, are properly accounted for.
• All finances are used lawfully and for the purposes set out in the appropriation Act.
• Government property or assets are properly looked after and accounted for.

Audit Products

The Audit Office delivers its value through a range of products. It is anticipated that this range of products will become wider and more sophisticated over time as the demands of organisations develop and as audit skills develop. However, this will be dependent on the provision of increased staffing levels and resources for the Office. The traditional product range has at its core an Audit Opinion, based on verifiable evidence, free from bias. This is currently provided together with basic audit compliance and investigative products.

The Skills Transfer Products will be delivered as part of the Interim audit process when the systems underpinning the accounts are subject to review for their effectiveness and for the degree with which they are being complied.

Over the next few years, it is intended to develop both the range and quality of the audit products.

What is Auditing

Auditing can be described as a systematic process of objectively obtaining, evaluating and analyzing evidences to ensure that financial statements provide a fair and accurate representation of the records and transactions in the entity.

Types of Audits

There are a number of types of audits carried out by auditors, some of the major ones are listed below :

• Financial Audits
• Compliance Audits
• Performance Audits (also called Operation Audit)
• Investigations
• Information System Audits

The office is currently involved only Financial and Compliance audits.

Financial Audits

Financial audits involves evaluating and analyzing an entity’s financial reports and financial processes to provide assurances on the entities financial statement to interested parties.

Compliance Audits

A compliance audit is focused more on reviewing and assessing an entities adherence to regulatory requirements.

Investigations

Investigations are audits that are undertaken on specific topics that have a public interest. These investigations can be instigated by any person and the decision to proceed is entirely at the discretion of the Auditor-General.

Audits Carried out by OAG

Section 25 (5) of the Constitution states that the function of the Auditor-General shall be to audit and report to Parliament and the Government on the Public accounts of Vanuatu.

With the current shortage of staff, AG is unable to audit individual ministries and departments within the Vanuatu Government. The audits that have been carried out by the office thus far are base on the Vanuatu Whole of Government Consolidated accounts. OAG also conduct audits on donor funded projects under the discretion of the AG.

List of audits that are conducted by OAG and tabled in Parliament can be viewed under the Publication page.

Outsourced Audit

Section 24 (1) of the Expenditure Review & Audit Act allows for the Auditor-General to appoint a minimum of 20% of its audit work to external audit service providers. The Auditor General must agree a reasonable audit fee to be charged for these services.

Prior to 2011, many of the donor audits were being led by the donors. Vanuatu OAG wrote to all DG’s and donors advising that all audits would now be tendered through the OAG. In 2012, GFG gave the OAG a grant to cover audit fees for audits we contract out. Contracted audits could be any audit the AG decided was a priority and could include donor project audits.