Parliament has amended the Audit Act, but what does it mean?

Why is this significant?

• The Audit Act was last amended over three decades ago

• The National Audit Department is a key agency in discovering leakages and abuses in public spending

• The Auditor-General may now audit any bodies and companies that receives state funds

KUALA LUMPUR, July 4 — Parliament has approved amendments to the Audit Act 1957, paving the way to empowering the Auditor-General to do more than just audit public spending in Malaysia.

It was tabled by Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said on June 27, before being approved in the current meeting.

This is the first time the Act has been amended in 33 years, with the amendments incorporating many of the new developments in the areas of governance and the management of public funds.

Anytime audits

A new Section 9a will empower the A-G to directly review remedial actions by state and federal agencies, public authorities, or statutory body in response to recommendations, comments, and observations of shortcoming in the federal audit reports.

The same section allows the A-G to present a report on a follow-up audit at any time to the Yang diPertuan Agong, and not only within the biannual series of the Auditor-General’s Annual Reports.

Currently, the Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) is responsible for following up on the issues raised in the A-G’s annual reports.

'Follow the money'

Section 5 of the Act was amended to empower the A-G to order audits into more entities including any company that receives federal or state financial guarantees, if the finance minister agree this would be in public interest.

The amendment is in line with the “follow the public money” approach to auditing, allowing the A-G to investigate any entity that receives any public fund that the National Audit Department is already auditing.

The Audit (Amendment) BIll 2024 will now head to the Senate, where it is expected to be approved by the end of July.