PUTRAJAYA, July 14 — A total of 12 performance audits of RM742.476 billion have been conducted as part of the Auditor General’s Report (LKAN) 2018 Series 3 involving programmes, activities and projects in 10 ministries with 63 recommendations relating to activities conducted by federal ministries, departments and statutory bodies for remedial and improvement action to be taken.
The National Audit Department (NAD) conducted 17 performance audits of programmes, activities and projects carried out by 22 government departments and agencies, as well as 13 audits of management of state government companies involving 12 states except Perlis.
Auditor-General Datuk Nik Azman Nik Abdul Majid said in a statement today 122 recommendations were made for the state departments to conduct remedial and improvement action.
LKAN 2018 Series 3 was tabled in Dewan Rakyat today with the consent of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah.
Nik Azman said the performance audits were in line with Section 6 (d) of the Audit Act 1957 and in accordance with international standards of auditing issued by the International Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI).
He said the audits are to assess if a government activity and project was conducted in a prudent, efficient and effective manner, and how much of the objectives have been achieved.
“It is also aimed at assessing if public funds have been used wisely, efficiently and effectively without wastage to obtain the best value for money,” he said.
On the 12 performance audits conducted on ministries, Nik Azman said 10 were in the programme and activity category, and one each in the construction, and information and communications technology or system categories.
The number of activities conducted by the LKAN this time according to the ministry were the Prime Minister’s Department (two activities), Finance Ministry (two activities), Ministry of Housing and Local Government (two activities) and the Education Ministry (two activities).
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry and the Works Ministry were audited for one activity each while the National Security Council was audited for two activities (organised jointly with various ministries).
Commenting further, Nik Azman said in general, the implementation of the Federal programmes, activities and project complied with their objectives.
However, he said, there were still issues of incompetency and non-compliance as well as weaknesses in the management of these programmes, activities and projects which affected their desired effectiveness, output, outcome and impact.
“In other words, the programmes, activities or projects did not obtain the optimum outcome or impact that was desired,” he said.
Nik Azman said all the controlling officers and department heads concerned have been informed of what was reported in the LKAN for confirmation purposes.
“An exit conference was also held to discuss the findings of the audit and obtain a clarification and feedback on the issues,” he said.
The LKAN on activities of federal ministries and statutory bodies for 2018 Series 3 will be uploaded on to the NAD’s website after it is tabled in Dewan Rakyat.
The public can view it at http://www.audit.gov.my beginning today (July14) after 10am.
At the state level, the LKAN which involved 12 states can only be uploaded on to the NAD’s website after it is tabled in their respective State Assembly sittings.
The issues raised in the LKAN 2018 Series 3 will also be uploaded on to the Auditor General’s Dashboard (AGD) portal today (July 14) from 3pm.
The LKAN 2018 Series 1 was tabled in Dewan Rakyat on July 15, 2019 while Series 2 on December 2, 2019.
Nik Azman said the LKAN is usually tabled in two series each year but for LKAN 2018, the NAD published three series following the increase in the number of audits conducted in 2018/2019.
He said the LKAN 2018 Series 3 was originally scheduled to be tabled in the Dewan Rakyat in March this year but the postponement of the Dewan Rakyat sitting and the Movement Control Order imposed due to Covid-19 affected the final works on LKAN 2018 Series 3.
“Although there was a delay in tabling it in Dewan Rakyat, the outcome of the audit and lessons learnt as reported in LKAN 2018 Series 3 are still relevant in how management of government programmes, activities and state government companies can be improved,” he said.
— Bernama
