HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept
{
"id": 1378533,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1378533/?format=api",
"text_counter": 189,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Nominated, ODM",
"speaker_title": "Hon. John Mbadi",
"speaker": {
"id": 110,
"legal_name": "John Mbadi Ng'ong'o",
"slug": "john-mbadi"
},
"content": "contrary to the conventional English language. As to why accountants chose that route, that is something that we need to research on. I also encourage at this point for all accounting officers to emulate this worthy examples. In this Report, the Committee has continued to hold individual officers to account for the various acts of omission and commission that occasioned either loss or illegal application of public funds. In a number of instances, the Committee has recommended specific follow up actions including further investigations by the investigative authorities, mostly by Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC). That is because most of the crimes in this Report are economic crimes. It is my hope that these recommendations, which are contrary to what we have seen previously, will be implemented within the shortest time possible by all those who are concerned, while taking into consideration public interest above everything else. Hon. Temporary Speaker, I want to give some highlights of the Auditor-General’s Report for Financial Year 2020/2021. I will begin by stating that in consideration of reports of various ministries, state departments and agencies, what is known as (MDAs), the Committee encountered cross-cutting and, at times, persistent matters that informed the general observations and recommendations. Specific observations and recommendations are, however, made to each query. If you go through this Report, it is a voluminous one, on each paragraph, you will get specific recommendations. What I am going to do this afternoon is just to highlight or give an overview of those common issues that probably needs much more attention from Members of Parliament. The general observations and recommendations include the following: Poor accounting standards and general incapacity of some accounting units. The Committee found that despite all accounting units being staffed by qualified accountants and procurement officers, non-compliance with the various provisions of the various laws pointed to incompetence or resistance. You find the laws are there, you have competent staffs based on their academic qualifications, professional background and even experience in terms of the number of years, but still the violation of laws is common. The various breaches included inaccuracies in the financial statements. Just imagine the inaccuracy in the financial statement and yet, we have qualified accountants preparing those accounts. Failure to reconcile accounts, which is very basic if you are an accountant… You would understand that reconciliation of accounts is one of the basic, actually the first unit in accounting class. Failure to address prior year matters. Despite the fact that this House reports and asks for certain actions or interventions, by the time we get to the next cycle, the same are repeated again and again, without any action. Accounting officers have also cited challenges with the Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS). We have been using the IFMIS for quite some time now and, therefore, issues of capacity to manage or use it should not arise at this stage. Therefore, the Committee recommends the following: 1. The National Treasury should conduct periodic sensitisation and capacity building programmes for all accounting officers, finance staff and procurement officers across the Government on their responsibilities during the audit cycle, and adherence to the International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS). 2. Relevant professional bodies like the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Kenya (ICPAK) and others should enforce compliance with standards and mete out sanctions against officers found to be wilfully failing to discharge their functions. The second cross-cutting issue is late submission of supporting documentations. Further to the above, the Committee observed that some accounting officers failed to submit supportive documentation to the Auditor-General on time during the audit cycle. The audit cycle is very simple. First, auditors report to the accounting entity or State agency. There is an The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor"
}