Guyana’s Auditor General, Deodat Sharma, today handed over his 2017 report to the Speaker of the National Assembly, Dr. Barton Scotland.
During the handover, Mr. Sharma announced that as Guyana gears up and moves into the oil and gas sector, his Department will be building its capacity to take on the emerging sector and the audits that will have to be done.
He announced that it will be partnering with the Canadian Executive Services Organisation to assist with the capacity building.
“We would be looking at the various areas in the oil and has sector that may be relevant to our engagement when it comes to examining the revenues and expenditures of the sector. Areas include: Finance, Regulatory, Technical and even scientific”, Mr. Sharma revealed.
The Auditor General also explained that through the partnership with the Canadian Organisation, capacity will also be built to undertake environmental audits, which will examine the regulatory aspects, including environmental governance, as well as other environmental issues.
Those issues will include air, rivers, land, oceans and coastal areas, forests the extractive sector or solid waste management and disposal.
He said already, officers from the Auditor General’s office have begun training in Canada at the Audit Office of British Colombia, Canada. The training forms part of the partnership with the Canadian organisation.
On the completion of the 2017 Auditor Genera’s report, Mr. Sharma said his office was able to increase its visibility and improve collaboration with some of its key stakeholders, including those in the hinterland, where communication mediums are limited.
Mr. Sharma handed over his 14th report and said it marked the 8th consecutive occasion that the Audit Office has been submitting reports by the statutory deadline of September 30.
With the report now handed over, its findings will be made public when it is laid in the National Assembly.
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