This paper provides a review of the last two Auditor General’s Reports of Belize, namely for the years 2010 and 2011; this was done with a view to evaluate the extent to which the issues identified for improvements have been resolved and what international guiding principles if any were used in the preparation of the reports. In order to determine this, a comparison of both reports had to be conducted to identify the most glaring issues in the first report and note if they were repeated in the subsequent period. It reviewed Issues involving compliance with financial regulations accountability and reliability matters emanating from the Auditor General’s Report and present approaches in which it can be enhanced.
Introduction
The Office of the Auditor General was established under Section 109 of the Belize Constitution, Chapter 4 of the Laws of Belize, Revised Edition 2000. The Office of the Auditor General is managed by the Auditor General who is appointed by the Governor-General, acting on the recommendation of both Houses of the National Assembly.
The Office of the Auditor General in carrying out its mandate, examines all of the various accounts that falls under the purview of ministries, departments and other public authorities as prescribed by law. In accordance with Section 120 (4) of the Belize Constitution and Section 16 (1) of the Finance and Audit (Reform) Act no 12 of 2005 the Auditor General is mandated to prepare an annual report documenting those significant findings for each financial year and present such report to the National Assembly.
With this in mind, the purpose of this paper is to review the Auditor Generals Reports for years 2009/2010 and 2010/2011 which have been presented to the National Asse...
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Articles
Audit Report 2009 – 2010, Office of the Auditor General of Belize: Report for the year April 2009 to March 2010, 17 January 2011.
Audit Report 2010 – 2011 Office of the Auditor General of Belize: Report for the year April 2010 to March 2011, 31 May, 2012.
Goetz, Anne Marie and John Gaventa (2001). Bringing Citizen Voice and Client Focus into Service Delivery. IDS Working Paper No. 138. Brighton: Institute of Development Studies.
Hedger and Blick (2008 )
Website
http://www.intosai.org/about-us.html http://www.belizelaw.org/web/e_library/constitution_08.html http://wwwwds.worldbank.org/external/default/WDSContentServer/WDSP/IB/2005/01/04/000090341_20050104132520/Rendered/PDF/310420PAPER0So1ity0SDP0Civic0no1076.pdf http://www.bing.com/search?q=themalasiainsider.com&src=IETopResult&FORM=IE10TR http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/accountability
Rittenberg, Larry, Bradley Schwieger, and Karla Johnstone. Auditing. 6th ed. Mason: Thomas South-Western, 2005. 10-40.
Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) is the independent organization that improves and establishes the accounting standards for the United States and local governments. It was established in 1984 by an agreement by the Financial Accounting Foundation and ten national associations of local governments. The mission of the GASB is “to establish and improve standards of the state and local governmental accounting and financial reporting that will result in useful information for users of financial reports, and to guide and educate the public and users of those financial reports (GASB 2014).” Their four core values are: independence, integrity, objectivity, and transparency. The GASB is not a governmental entity, and it is a component of the Financial Accounting Foundation which is a private sector not for profit entity. The GASB standards are not federal laws or regulations, and the GASB does not enforcement authority. However, the standards are enforceable through the laws of the individual states and the auditing process. The process of a standard being set is by due process, and the Governmental Accounting Standards Advisory Council consists of thirty members that are appointed by the Financial Accounting Foundation Trustees. Th...
The Inspector General’s job is to inform the chairman and congress of any fraud or serious administrative problems which may arise in FCC operations. The Inspector General then recommends corrective action where appropriate in accordance to his analysis, audits, investigations and reviews. He also checks on the progress of implementations of the recommendations. The IG may then refer any criminal issues to the Department of Justice and/or other law enforcing arms. The Inspector General office is staffed with; the Inspector General, Assistant Inspector general for investigations and Counsel, an Assistant Inspector General for Universal Service Programs, an Assistant Inspector General for Audits, an Assistant Inspector General for Management, an Assistant Inspector General for Policy and Planning, a Chief Investigator for Universal Service Programs, a Director for Contract and Performance Audits, a Director for Information System Audits, a Director for Financial Audits...
"The Eye of the Storm; Violence in Honduras." The Economist Jun 16 2012: 44. ProQuest. Web. 22 Oct 2013.
"United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime." Organized Crime. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Apr. 2014.
Audit quality is one of the most prominent factors on determining the effectiveness of tax auditing. Audit quality is proven by the capacity of office in order to provide useful tax auditing findings and recommendations. The auditor is required to meet the performance standards which able to perform well in work by providing useful audit findings and recommendations for improvement. The office’s capability to correctly plan and perform the audit findings is considered as a proxy of audit quality. Therefore, the high audit quality could lead to an effective tax
"COCA - Council on Child Abuse / Prevention. Education. Awareness." COCA - Council on Child Abuse / Prevention. Education. Awareness. Web. 25 Mar. 2014.
The richest 20% in the world gorge themselves on over 70% of the world’s resources while continuing to exploit the poorest, who are forced to live in desolate poverty. Guatemala is no exception to this, as over 50% of their population live under the poverty line. With a population of around fifteen million people, Guatemala is the most populous country in Central America, but is also one of the poorest. Guatemala’s extreme impoverishment is because of the struggle between the poor mixed-blood natives and the rich Spanish descendants who run the country, the interference of other countries and the extortion of the country with deceitful loans and conditions by the World Bank and other associations.
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) 2009, Annual Report 2009, viewed 2 April 2014, http://www.unodc.org/documents/about-unodc/AR09_LORES.pdf
The ‘deficient standards gap’ refers to situations when the auditors are not required by the standards to report certain issues, whilst its counterpart refers to situations when auditors have not complied with the existing standards. This dissection is particularly important when I look at each of the problems separately later on and look for the respective solutions. The beginning Since the early 1970s, the auditing profession has been under increased pressure and scrutiny by government and users of audit reports. The phrase, ‘Audit Expectations Gap’ was first coined when the AICPA put the Cohen Commission together in 1974 to investigate whether the ‘expectations gap’ existed. However, the history of the expectation gap goes right back to the start of company auditing in the nineteenth century (Humphrey and Turley 1992).
Organizations that only have top management as the board members are more susceptible to accounting malpractices. Members of the board should preferably own shares in the company to ensure diligence when it comes to the interests of the company. Apart from the Board of Governors, there should also be an audit committee in place to oversee the financial dealings of the bank. Members of the board and the audit committee should have basic financial knowledge. Some of the members should also be experts in finances so that they can detect any anomaly that may take place in terms of financial reporting. An overhaul of the regulatory framework is required to empower authorities to intervene immediately, and make improvements. New technology is required. Manual antiquated processes should be eliminated because this causes greater human error and poor
The oversight responsibilities of the board, the CAE lacking of expertise or broad understanding of financial controls and responsibilities, and the understaffed internal audit functions lacking of independence and direct access to the board of directors contributed to the absence of internal controls. To begin with, the board should be retrained to achieve financial literacy to review financial reporting. Other than attending formal meetings, the board of directors should be more involved with the management. For the Audit Committee, the two members who were recruited as acquaintances to Brennahan need be replaced with experts who are more sufficiently knowledgeable about accounting rules beyond merely “financially literate”. Furthermore, the internal audit functions need to expand with different expertise commensurate with the expanded activities of the organization, testing financial reporting rather than internal controls from an operational perspective. The CAE should be more independent and proactive to execute audit plans, instead of following orders from the CFO, and initiate a direct and efficient communication between internal audit and audit
Approximately 100 metric tons of cocaine passes through Jamaican shores every year (Jamaica: Army to assist police in fighting crime, drugs, 2002). With the U.S. focusing their efforts on protecting the home front, the Caribbean has become more fertile for an increase in crime. However, it appears that this region is relying heavily on itself to pave the way for positive change. During a three-day summit, a regional task force established by Caribbean governments will implement certain initiatives to decrease crime in the immediate future as well as long-term plans to alleviate poverty, inequality and social marginalization (Jamaica: Army to assist police in fighting crime, drugs, 2002).
Are Auditors Becoming Too Cozy With Their Clients? By: Briloff, Abraham J.. Business & Society Review (00453609), Summer85, Issue 54
"Overview of Trade." Trade Reference Centre - Jamaica. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Nov. 2013. .