Ministry of Finance has commenced efforts to establish an internal audit system in government offices to verify the financial transactions.
As part of its efforts to ensure transaction validity of public bank accounts and public funds, the ministry aims to identify risks in offices and ensure the public goods and documents are kept in accordance with chapter 16 of Public Finance Act. The ministry has set up audit committees required to establish the audit functions and is currently working on establishing audit committees in five institutions. The ministry has aimed to set up the audit functions in government offices within the first three months of this year, in an order deemed most important to least.
The internal audit system will be overseen by a seven-member committee appointed by the Minister of Finance. The Internal Audit Committee of the State includes three-members from the finance ministry, a representative from Auditor General's Office, Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) and two representatives from the private sector.
The audit committee set up in the finance ministry will be mandated with meeting the objectives of the system while audit committees of the public institutions will manage the audit processes. The work of these committees will be monitored by the audit committee of the finance ministry which will be accountable to the finance minister.
According to the ministry, the committees will be established in independent institutions and ministries in addition to authorities given the state budget. City councils, atoll councils and companies overseen by the Privatisation and Corporatisation Board (PCB) will be required to formulate internal audit committees.