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Our Vision
To enhance public sector transparency and accountability and fight corruption by delivering excellence in audit services

Our Purpose
Under the Westminster System of government, Parliament is supreme. All authority for governmental activity ultimately stems from Parliament. Public sector organizations are therefore accountable to Parliament for their use of the public resources and powers that it has conferred on them.

The Auditor General plays a crucial role in the framework of public accountability under the Westminster System. The Auditor General serves as the external auditor of Government with a duty to report independently and directly to Parliament on the results of audit examinations performed, ensuring government transparency and accountability to the public through the Parliament.

In essence the Auditor General exists as a constitutional safeguard to maintain the financial integrity of the Solomon Island’s parliamentary system of government.

Our Key Stakeholders
The Office of the Auditor General’s (OAG) primary client and key stakeholder is the National Parliament and the community through Parliament. As well, the Provincial Governments and various State Owned Enterprises and Statutory Bodies as auditees are also key stakeholders.

The OAG also contributes to a broader national accountability to donor agencies such as the Asian Development Bank, AusAID, European Union, International Monetary Fund, Japanese International Cooperation Agency, NZAID, United Nations, World Bank and to regional partners participating in and donating to the nation through the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI) and other international and bilateral arrangement, for the resources being invested in the country through this mission.

Our Staff
The OAG comprises around 35 professional and administrative staff including RAMSI Audit Advisors who are responsible to the Auditor General of the Solomon Islands. Staff in the main have as a base qualification a Diploma in Finance and Administration from the Solomon Islands College of Higher Education and are encouraged to advance their studies through University studies and professional accounting institutions.

History and Current Developments Within the OAG
At independence in 1978 the OAG had a staff of around 28 officers and the roles and duties of the Auditor General were largely spelt out in two pieces of legislation, the Constitution and the Public Finance and Audit Act 1978. Following self government the Office functioned reasonably well for ten years after which time the auditing machine started to fall apart through an avalanche of staff departures to the private sector and public sector agencies due to their marketability.

During the following period of some ten years there was a rapid decline in the quality and standard of OAG due to staff losses and reduced resources culminating in an ineffectual office with no reports being prepared or presented to Parliament for almost twenty years. The few effective audits performed were undertaken by the private sector on behalf of the Auditor General. This resulted in a grossly ineffective OAG which by 2003 and the arrival of RAMSI had a staff of three persons.

The absence of an effective audit function within government over such a protracted period of time led to an unchecked and ultimately disastrous breakdown in public accountability - an environment typified by poor financial management practices and weak controls, which have resulted in significant losses in revenue and an environment conducive to fraud and corruption.

Since the recommencement of audit activity following the inception of the RAMSI institutional capacity building program, the foundations have been laid for the path to recovery, with significant early progress being made towards realising the strategic outcome of reinstating the OAG as an effective supreme audit institution.

Successful recruitment programs were undertaken in 2005, 2006 and 2007, which have secured a contingent of local staff with sound basic skills. Under the capacity building program, these individuals are being nurtured and developed to become the future of the organization.
 

To assist in the capacity building processes, the OAG has recruited expatriate audit specialist advisers to develop the strategic direction of OAG and formulate and conduct training programs, mentor the new local recruits and build their skills base by providing practical on the job training and experience and supplement resources with a view to clearing the backlog of audit work.

During the last two years some 14 Reports on the results of audits and investigations have been finalised and tabled in the Solomon Islands Parliament. These reports identify the significant shortcomings in the Ministries in the last five years and show a blue print for the future direction for these Ministries.

In 2006 and 2007 the Public Accounts Committee of the Solomon Islands Parliament reviewed the Auditor General’s Reports to the Parliament and provided its Report on the seven specific Audit Reports reviewed. In addition the Auditor General as Secretary to the Public Accounts Committee convened hearings into the Solomon Islands draft Estimates of Expenditure for the Appropriations and Supplementary Appropriations for 2006, 2007 and 2008 and the Committee produced its Report on these hearings for consideration of the Parliament.

2007 witnessed a significant achievement in the catch up on the financial reporting backlog wherein the Solomon Islands Government National Accounts were certified for the years 1998 to 2003 and the outcome of these six years audits were included in a Report to the Parliament tabled in August 2007. Further, the audits of the National Accounts for the three years 2004-2006 were finalised in July 2008.

Similarly, following OAG involvement with the Provincial Government Financial Management Improvement Program, a most encouraging initiative of AusAID, all outstanding accounts of the nine provinces were recently reported upon by the Auditor–General representing a major step forward in the catch up process. A similar initiative in the State Owned Enterprises (SOE) arena will enable a major improvement in the SOE sector.