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| May 18, 2003 | Sunday | Rabi-ul-Awwal 15, 1424 |
District audit system from July
PESHAWAR, May 17: The district government audit system will formally start functioning in the NWFP from July 1, which will ensure 80 per cent audit coverage of the government departments as against the prevailing 20 per cent.
The idea being part of the devolution plan of the National Reconstruction Bureau, is aimed at bringing financial accountability and improving accounts reporting.
Director of Audit, NWFP, Sikandar Khan told APP here on Saturday that “stage is set to formally kick off the audit system at district level in the province”, adding that as against the present ratio of audit coverage (20 per cent) the same would jump to 80 per cent after its beginning.
Giving details about the organisational structure of the district govt audit, he said, it would be headed by director- general audit who would have seven regional offices one each at Peshawar, Mardan, Malakand, Hazara, Kohat, Bannu and D. I. Khan.
The regional offices will be headed by the director of audit and would be assisted by deputy-directors, he said, adding that for each district, there would be two audit teams headed by audit officers.
Answering to a question, Sikandar Khan said, sites for offices had already been identified at Peshawar and other divisional headquarters. He said that seven district account offices had been upgraded while 17 had yet to be upgraded.
In reply to a question, the director of audit said, approximately Rs 12.5 million had been earmarked in the current fiscal year for installation of machinery, equipment, furniture and rent of buildings for the audit offices in the province.
Sikandar Khan said the strength of the audit staff would increase by 100 per cent after introduction of the district audit system as the present number of strength is 120 while in the new setup it would reach to 264.
The audit-general of Pakistan has already sanctioned 264 posts of senior auditors, auditors, key punch operators, steno- graphers and other staff to be deputed in the district audit offices.
He said he was fully satisfied with the standard and performance of the audit staff and said that they were competent enough and have long audit experience.
Replying to a question, he said, audit of the departments with huge budgets would be carried out on priority basis. However, he also hinted at some non-cooperation by the government officials during auditing of their department and tried to hide the facts.
He agreed that audit officials should be duly rewarded for their performance in the shape of promotions and cash awards.—APP
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