Published: 29 January 2015
The Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (OCAG) is one of the important pillars of National Integrity System. It is a constitutional body to establish transparency and accountability in public expenditures and prevent financial corruption and irregularities in public administration. According to the Article 128 (1) of the Constitution, ‘the public accounts of the Republic and all courts of law and all authorities and officers of the Government shall be audited and reported by the Auditor General.’ This office pays greater emphasis on efficiency, effectiveness and parsimony in public expenditures for combating corruption and increasing transparency. The main responsibilities of the CAG Office are to review how efficiently public money is being spent and in what ways tax payers’ and poor people’s interests are served. Through this office the executive is made accountable to the Parliament and the government to taxpayers.
In recent years, the CAG Office has got some momentum in its operations. In the last 5 years, because of its efforts BDT 18527.85 crore has been adjusted and realized through auditing of many government offices. Moreover, there have been some positive changes in other areas like adoption of automated system in the auditing process and release of the audit reports through press conference. An Audit Act has also been drafted aiming at ensuring greater independence in the functioning of CAG. Despite these positive changes, some institutional and legal limitations persist for which the office has not been able to perform its responsibilities properly. On the other hand, transparency in public expenditure has jeopardised as audit objections are not properly reflected because of the corruption of its officials and employees during audit process and non-realization of public money that have been embezzled and misused through corruption. Therefore, TIB has undertaken this study to indentify and examine existing limitations, corruption and irregularities in the CAG office.
Click below for details –
