AUDIT REPORT | Seven of the 25 ministries achieved excellent results in financial management (Index Accountability) last year, said auditor-general Madinah Mohamad.

Based on the 2017 Auditor-General’s Report (LKAN) Series 1, she said 16 ministries had achieved good levels, while another two achieved satisfactory levels.

“In addition, 13 departments had achieved excellent levels and five achieved good levels.

“Meanwhile, the performance of financial management at 21 federal statutory bodies (BBP) which were audited once every five years showed that two BBP reported excellent achievements, 12 BBP achieved good levels, five BBP achieved satisfactory levels and two BBP reported less satisfactory levels,” she said in a statement on the report today.

The 2017 LKAN Series 1 will be tabled in Parliament today.

She said that in 2017, the Financial Management Audit used a new approach which was based on risks where every criteria audited was categorised based on three levels of risks, namely high risk, low risk and moderate risk.

Madinah said in line with the implementation of this new approach, reporting for 2017 LKAN Series 1 on financial management was only made based on the 2017 financial year performance without comparison to the performance of the previous year.

At the state government level meanwhile, the National Audit Department had carried out financial management auditing (Accountability Index) at 116 ministries/state departments where 45 ministries/state departments achieved excellent results, 47 had good results, 17 had satisfactory results while two had unsatisfactory results.

Meanwhile, Madinah said the audit carried out at 35 state statutory bodies showed that 13 had achieved excellent results, 11 reported good levels, nine reported satisfactory levels, one reported less satisfactory level and one was unsatisfactory.

She said the audit at 44 local authorities showed that 20 achieved excellent results, 18 reported good levels, three were satisfactory, two reported less satisfactory levels and one was unsatisfactory.

“Financial management at the State Islamic Religious Councils (MAI) showed that one posted an excellent result, three were showing good levels and one had a satisfactory result,” she said.

According to Madinah, in the report, 14 recommendations had been made on the financial statement of the federal government for 2017 and the financial management of ministries/departments and federal statutory bodies.

Meanwhile, 46 recommendations were made on activities carried out by federal ministries/departments and statutory bodies and 21 recommendations for government companies and federal government agencies.

“A total of 162 recommendations had also been submitted on the management of activities/finance of ministries/departments/agencies and the management of state government companies to improve the weaknesses reported,” she said.

In the meantime, Madinah said auditing of the financial statements of the federal government found that the government received a total of RM220.41 billion in revenue, an increase of RM7.99 billion (3.8 percent) compared with the year 2016 (RM212.42 billion).

“The government had approved an allocation of RM216.70 billion, of which RM217.70 billion (100.5 percent) had been spent. For development expenditure, the federal ministries/departments had spent RM44.88 billion (99.0 percent) of the allocation of RM45.32 billion.

“The federal government suffered a deficit of RM40.32 billion. The federal government had taken a loan from within the country as well as external loan amounting to RM129.25 billion to meet the deficit as well as to repay loans,” she said.

Madinah added that the National Audit Department would also give a briefing on major issues raised in the report to members of the Public Accounts Committee after the appointment of members had been finalised.

She said that the contents and synopsis of LKAN 2017 Series 1, could be surfed on the website of the National Audit Department at https://www.audit.gov.my from today after 10 am.

- Bernama