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CHAPTER 70
AUDIT ACT 1970, (CAP 70), updated with AUDIT (AMENDMENT) – 7 of 1998 and AUDIT (AMENDMENT) – 7 of 2006
Short title
- This Act may be cited as the Audit Act.
Interpretation
2. In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires -
*"Auditor-General" means the person appointed as *Auditor-General or who acts as such from time to time;
“budget sector agency”, in relation to a financial year, means a state entity that administers an appropriation for that year under an Appropriation Act or the Financial Management Act 2004;
“company” means a company formed and registered under the Companies Act (Capt. 247) or an existing company within the meaning of that Act;
“off-budget state entity” means a state entity that is not a budget sector agency;
“other money” means money held by a budget sector agency, other than public money and trust money;
“performance audit” means an audit conducted under section 6A;
“public money” means revenue or money raised or received for the purposes of government;
“responsible authority” for a state entity means –
(a) in the case of a department – the chief executive officer of the department; or
(b) in the case of a state entity that is not a department –
(i) the board or other governing body of the entity; or
(ii) the chief executive officer of the entity if it does not have a board or other governing body;
“state entity” has the same meaning as in the Financial Management Act 2004;
“subsidiary” has the meaning given by section 156 of the Companies Act (Cap. 247);
“trust money” means money held by a budget sector agency on trust, other than public money.
* Auditor-General
3. - (1) The *Auditor-General shall not hold any office of profit under the Crown other than the office of *Auditor-General.
(2) The provisions of the law and regulations relating to the public service shall apply to the *Auditor-General, except where such provisions are in conflict with the provisions of the Constitution, this Act or any other law for the time being in force.
Acting *Auditor-General
4. Every person appointed to act as the *Auditor-General, during the period he is so acting, shall have and may exercise all the powers and authority of, and shall perform the duties imposed upon, the *Auditor-General by the Constitution, this Act or any other law for the time being in force.
Staff of Audit Department
5. - (1) The staff required to assist the *Auditor-General in the performance of his duties shall be composed of such officers as he, with the sanction of *Parliament, may determine.
(2) Anything which under the authority of this Act is directed to be done by the *Auditor-General, other than the certifying and reporting of accounts for *Parliament, may be done by any officer of his staff so authorized by him.
Duties of *Auditor-General
6. – (1) In addition to performing the functions of the Auditor-General under section 167 of the Constitution, the Auditor-General has, on behalf of the Parliament, the following duties –
(a) to audit –
(i) the accounts of the Consolidated Fund; and
(ii) the whole of government financial statements and annual appropriation statement required to be included in the whole of government annual report for a financial year under the Financial Management Act 2004;
(b) to audit –
(i) the accounts of all state entities, except the Office of the Auditor-General and off-budget state entities that are exempted by the regulations made under section 19 from audit by the Auditor-General; and
(ii) the financial statements required to be included in such a state entity's annual report for a financial year under the Financial Management Act 2004;
(c) to audit the accounts of any entity whose borrowings have, in whole or in part, been guaranteed by the Government, but only if and to the extent the Minister has authorized or required the audit;
(d) if considered appropriate by the Auditor-General-
(i) to conduct special investigations into the financial management of any state entity; or
(ii) to audit the accounts of any entity to the extent necessary to ensure that any conditions of any grant to it made by the State, the Government or a state entity have been complied with.
(2) The Auditor-General must satisfy himself or herself
(a) that the accounts have been faithfully and properly kept;
(b) that expenditure has been properly authorized, properly applied and otherwise properly accounted for;
(c) that, where applicable, all reasonable precautions have been taken to safeguard the collection of public money and trust money, and other money within the meaning of this Act, and that the laws, directions and or instructions relating to its collection have been duly observed;
(d) that, where applicable, expenditure of money appropriated by the Parliament has been applied to the purposes for which the money was appropriated; and
(e) that the provisions of the Constitution and of the Financial Management Act 2004, and of any other law relating to money or property subject to his or her audit, have otherwise been complied with in all material respects.
(3) The Auditor-General may conduct audits and special investigations under this section in such manner as he or she considers appropriate, but must ensure that they are conducted in a competent manner, having regard to –
(a) the character of, and his or her assessment of the effectiveness of, any relevant internal control systems;
(b) relevant provisions of Fiji Standards on Auditing issued by the Fiji Institute of Accountants; and
(c) any other relevant standards that he or she considers appropriate.
(4) The Auditor-General must give –
(a) an audit opinion on each set of financial statements audited; and
(b) an audit memorandum to the responsible authority for each entity that is the subject of audit.
(5) At least once in every year, the Auditor-General must report to the Parliament on audits and special investigations conducted under this Act and on other significant matters the Auditor-General wishes to bring to the attention of the Parliament.
(6) The power of the Auditor-General to conduct audits has effect despite any contrary provision in –
(a) any other written law in force immediately before the commencement of the Audit (Amendment) Act 2005 (which substituted this section); or
(b) a company's memorandum or articles or other governing instrument.
(7) If the regulations exempt an off-budget state entity from audit by the Auditor-General-
(a) the audit is to be conducted by a person appointed, and in the manner provided, under other legislation relating to the entity; or
(b) to the extent other legislation does not make provision for those matters, the audit is to be conducted by a person appointed, or in the manner provided, or both, under regulations referred to in subsection (8).
(8) The regulations may provide for the appointment, by a Minister or by the responsible authority for the entity, of a person of a specified class as auditor for the entity, and for the manner of conducting the audit, in the circumstances referred to in subsection 7 (b) .
(9) An audit of a state entity that is a company extends to subsidiaries of the company.
(10) To avoid any doubt, subsection (1) (b) extends to the audit of the accounts of all money received or held by a state entity, whether or not for the purposes of government.
Power to conduct performance audit
6A – (1) The Auditor General may conduct any audit that the Auditor-General considers necessary to determine –
(a) whether an entity that the Auditor General must or may audit under section 6 is achieving its objectives effectively and doing so economically and in compliance with all relevant Acts; or
(b) whether the operations or activities of all state entities or one or more of those state entities are being performed effectively, economically and efficiently and in compliance with all relevant Acts.
(2) In conducting a performance audit under subsection (1), the Auditor-General may audit an entity together with one or more other entities.
(3) Before conducting a performance audit, the Auditor-General must prepare a specification for the audit that sets out the particular objectives of the audit and any particular issues to be addressed.
(4) The Auditor-General is to determine-
(a) the intervals at which performance audits of a particular entity or entities are to be conducted; and
(b) the number of performance audits to be conducted in each financial year
(5) Nothing in this section entitles the Auditor-General to question the merit of policy objectives of the Government.
(6) In this section-
"policy objectives" includes-
(a) a Government policy direction of a Minister;
(b) a policy statement in a budget paper;
(c) a statement of objectives in a corporate plan approved by a Minister;
(d) any other document evidencing a policy decision of the Government or a Minister;
"entity" means-
(a) a budget sector agency; or
(b) any other body prescribed by regulations.".
Powers of *Auditor-General
7. - (1) In the performance of his or her functions under section 167 of the Constitution and of his or her duties under this Act, the *Auditor-General may -
(a) call upon any officer for any explanation and information he may require;
(b) authorise any officer on his behalf to conduct any inquiry, examination or audit, and such officer shall report thereon to him;
Provided that any such authority shall be subject to the concurrence of the head of the department in which the officer concerned is employed;
(c) without payment of any fee cause search to be made in and extracts taken from any book, document or record in any public office;
(d) examine upon oath, declaration or affirmation (which oath, declaration or affirmation the *Auditor-General is hereby empowered to administer) all persons whom he may think fit to examine respecting the receipt or expenditure of money or the receipt or issue of any stores affected by the provisions of this Act and respecting all other matters and things whatsoever necessary for the due performance and exercise of the duties and powers vested in him;
(e) lay before the Attorney-General a case in writing as to any question regarding the interpretation of any Act or regulation concerning the discharge of his duties, and the Attorney-General shall give a written opinion on such case.
(f) obtain legal advice from the private practice in circumstances considered appropriate by the Auditor-General
(2) In the performance of his or her functions under section 167 of the Constitution and of his or her duties under this Act, the Auditor-General or any person duly authorized by the Auditor -General shall be entitled -
(a) to have access to all records, books, accounts, vouchers, documents, cash, stamps, securities, stores or other Government property under the control of any officer;
(b) to send for and have the custody of any records, books, accounts, vouchers or documents under the control of any officer, and to keep such records, books, accounts, vouchers or documents for such time as he or she may require them.
(3) Any person examined pursuant to the provisions of paragraph (d) of subsection (1) who gives a false answer to any question put to him or makes a false statement or any matter knowing that answer or statement to be false or not knowing or believing it to be true shall be deemed to be guilty of perjury and shall be liable to be prosecuted and punished accordingly.
"Contracting out of audits or special investigations
7A.-(1) The Auditor-General may by contract authorise a person to conduct on behalf of the Auditor-General an audit or special investigation, except in relation to-
(a) a budget sector agency; or -
(b) a state entity that collects taxes, including regulatory fees in the nature of taxes.
(2) The Auditor-General cannot by contract authorise a person to conduct an audit or special investigation under this section if the person is or has been in the last 12 months-
(a) a member of staff of the Office of the Auditor-General; or
(b) auditing the accounts of the Office of the Auditor-General.
(3) The person contracted to conduct an audit or special investigation under this section is required to conduct the audit or special investigation in accordance with audit standards specified by the Auditor-General, and is required to report to the Auditor-General on the audit or special investigation, and to give an audit opinion or audit memorandum under section 6 (4), in accordance with those audit standards.
(4) Subject to subsection (3), the person contracted to conduct an audit or special investigation under this section has, in relation to the conduct of an audit or special investigation, the powers and duties of the Auditor-General under this Act (other than the power to obtain an opinion or legal advice under section 7(1) (e) or (f) ).
(5) For the purposes of subsection (1), a regulatory fee that is intended to recover the cost of a service from a user of the service is not in the nature of a tax."
Secrecy
8.- (1) The operation of section 7 shall not be limited by any provision (including a provision relating to secrecy) contained in any other *Act except to the extent to which any such other *Act expressly excludes the operation of that section.
(2) Notwithstanding anything contained in any other *Act and notwithstanding the making of any oath or declaration of secrecy, a person shall not be guilty of an offence by reason of anything done by him for the purposes of section 7.
(3) The *Auditor-General or any other person shall not divulge or communicate, except in the course of duty to another person performing duties under this Act, any information which has come to his knowledge directly or indirectly in accordance with the provisions of section 7 in any case in which the person from whom such information has been obtained, or from whose custody were produced, the accounts, books, documents or papers from which such information was derived could not, but for the provisions of this Act lawfully have divulged that information to the *Auditor-General or such other person.
(4) Subsection (3) shall not prevent the making, divulging or communicating in any report of the *Auditor-General of conclusions, observations or recommendations which are based on information obtained in accordance with the provisions of section 7.
(5) Subsection (3) does not prevent the divulging or communicating of information obtained in accordance with the provisions of section 7, upon request in writing, to the Commissioner of Police.
Test audits, defective vouchers
9. – Repealed as per Audit (Amendment Act) 2006
Notification of serious irregularities
10. If, at any time in the opinion of the *Auditor-General, serious irregularities have occurred in the receipt, custody or expenditure of public moneys or in the receipt, custody, issue, sale, transfer or delivery of any stamps, securities, stores or other Government property or in the accounting for the same, he shall bring the matter to the notice of –
(a) the Minister for Finance;
(b) the responsible authority for the entity that is the subject of audit or investigation; and
(c) the Minister responsible for the entity.
Annual accounts
11. Repealed as per Audit (Amendment Act) 2006
"Reports of Auditor-General"
12.-(1) A report of the Auditor-General to the Parliament about an audit must be submitted to the Speaker of the House of Representatives within 9 months after the year to which the audit relates or within a longer period appointed by resolution of the House.
(2) A report of the Auditor-General to the Parliament about a special investigation must be submitted to the Speaker of the House of Representatives not later than 6 months after the year in which the special investigation was completed or within a longer period appointed by resolution of the House.
(3) A report of the Auditor-General to the Parliament about a performance audit must be submitted to the Speaker of the House of Representatives not later than 6 months after the year in which the performance audit was completed or within a longer period appointed by resolution of the House.
(4) Nothing in this section implies that a single report cannot be about 2 or more audits, special investigations or performance audit or all of them.
Audit of other bodies
13. - (1) Where by under the provisions of any other law, the *Auditor-General is appointed to audit the accounts of any body corporate or other body established by such law, he -
(a) shall have, in relation to any such corporate body or other body and its members, officers and employees, the same discretion and powers as are conferred upon him by sections 6 and 7 in relation to the accounts of state entities;
(b) may authorise any person publicly carrying on the profession of accountant or any public officer to inspect, examine or audit the books and accounts of any body which he may be required to examine and audit pursuant to the provisions of this section and such person or officer shall report thereon to the *Auditor-General in such manner as he may direct;
Provided that any such authority given to a public officer shall be subject to the concurrence of the head of the department in which the officer is employed.
(2) The *Auditor-General may, if so requested, audit the accounts of any body other than those specified in subsection (1), if, in the opinion of the *Minister for Finance, the public interest so requires, and in the exercise of his duties under this subsection the *Auditor-General shall have the same discretion and powers as are conferred upon him by the said subsection.
(3) Except as otherwise provided by any other law, the *Auditor-General shall certify and may report on his examination and audit of any account specified in subsections (1) and (2) and, in addition, may also submit such account and report to the *Minister for Finance who shall cause them to be laid before *Parliament at the next meeting thereof.
(4) Repealed as per Audit (Amendment Act) 2006
(5) This section does not apply to the audit of the accounts of state entities.
"Audit of the Office of the Auditor-General
14. -(1) The Speaker of the House of Representatives may appoint a natural person to audit the accounts of the Office of the Auditor-General for a term not exceeding 3 years.
(2) A person appointed under this section may be re-appointed for a further term or terms each not exceeding 3 years, but a period of at least 3 years must elapse between each such term.
(3) A person who is, or has been in the last 12 months, the Auditor-General or a member of the staff of the Office of the Auditor-General, cannot audit or be appointed to audit the accounts of the Office of the Auditor-General.
(4) The person appointed to conduct an audit under this section has, in relation to the audit, the powers and duties of the Auditor-General under this Act (other than powers under section 7(1) (e) or (f) ), but must report the results of the audit to the Auditor-General for inclusion in a report to the Parliament by the Auditor-General.
Audit fees
15 .-(1) The Auditor-General may set fees for audits and special investigations conducted under this Act in relation to state entities and other entities, but only in accordance with guidelines for the time being approved by the Minister for Finance.
(2) An entity in relation to which an audit or special investigation is conducted under this Act must, on receipt of the relevant invoice, pay the fee set for the audit or investigation.
(3) Different fees may be set for different classes of audits or special investigations.
Application of this Act to certain state entities
16. This Act applies to government commercial companies and commercial statutory authorities under the Public Enterprise Act 1996 subject to and in accordance with section 100 of that Act.
Review of audits
17 .-(1) If-
(a) an off-budget state entity is exempted under this Act from audit by the Auditor-General but the accounts of the entity are to be audited by another person; or
(b) the audit of an off-budget state entity is contracted out to another person under this Act,
the Auditor-General is empowered to review the audit and prepare a report for the Parliament on the results of the review.
(2) Despite section 16, this section extends to an audit under section 100 of the Public Enterprise Act 1996 of a government commercial company or commercial statutory authority that is exempted under this Act from audit by the Auditor-General.
Extra-territorial operation
18. This Act extends, as far as possible, to-
(a) financial transactions;
(b) balances; and
(c) acts and omissions;
outside the Fiji Islands .
Regulations
19. The Minister for Finance may make regulations to give effect to the provisions of this Act and in particular to provide for any matter required or permitted to be prescribed for the purposes of this Act.".
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