The National Audit Office has just published its annual report for 2017. This year represented the 20th anniversary since the setting up of the office as an independent audit institution, as a result of changes in the Constitution. As the expression goes, the NAO is 20 years young.

It is indeed unfortunate that, as a country, we may not have fully appreciated the role of the National Audit Office and its contribution to the implementation of good governance in the Public Service and state institutions. Many a time the NAO was used as a political football and those that at one time or other praised their work, then ended up denigrating it and vice-versa. It was simply seen as a means of scoring political goals against the adversary.

Those who have worked with me in the state-controlled organisations that I have led over the years know of my insistence on good governance and of my belief that the primary role of any person serving in a State institution or the Public Service in whatever capacity is to safeguard and promote the common good. Such people are custodians of the common good and, if the common good were not to exist, there would be no need for either the Public Service or any State institution. This has led me to appreciate and understand the importance of the NAO.

The government auditor must be alert to intentional wrongdoing, errors and omissions, inefficiency, waste, ineffectiveness and conflicts of interest

Businesses are used to dealing with auditors, especially when it comes to the statutory accounts that they need to draw up and auditors need to certify. Sometimes managers of privately owned business organisations view the auditors as an inconvenience, ignoring the fact that the auditors’ responsibility is towards the shareholders, the owners of the business. The shareholders are those that are risking their money in the business.

In the Public Service and in State institutions, there are no shareholders driven by a profit motive. In effect, the role of the shareholders belongs to the taxpayers as public expenditure is all funded by the taxpayer in one form or another.

The taxpayer, that is you and I, need to have the assurance of three fundamental elements when it comes to the use of public funds and the work of the NAO. First, we want to know that the Public Service and State institutions are doing the right things and that the employees are carrying out the policies and procedures established. Some may call this red tape. However, controls do not need to become red tape and intelligent forms of control should not, and do not, get in the way of management.

Second, the public has a need, and a right, to know that the money it has entrusted to the State is being used appropriately and in compliance with the law. In this case, I am not referring to the procedure by which public funds have been spent but to the assurance that the public needs that the expenditure incurred is legal; for example, that the way public officers are remunerated is legal.

Third, the public also wants to know that its money is being used economically, efficiently and effectively and that the results of the expenditures accomplished what was intended in the first place. In this regard, the National Audit Office publishes a number of reports throughout the year that evaluate whether specific public sector programmes represent value for money for the taxpayer.

In a democratic society such as ours, accountability needs to be inherent in the governance process and each of these three elements are important to ensure such accountability. These three elements should not just be applied when it comes to purchasing services or implementing projects, but also in the way human resources are managed or in the way social welfare benefits are dispensed, therefore across the whole spectrum of government revenue and expenditure.

The government auditor must be alert to intentional wrongdoing, errors and omissions, inefficiency, waste, ineffectiveness and conflicts of interest.

Another point that I wish to make is that just because a state-controlled institution generates its own revenues does not exclude it from coming under the radar of accountability. Control of expenditure is important but equally important is the elimination of revenue dilution.

A strong economy needs a strong functioning democracy for it to sustain itself. A strong functioning democracy requires to have institutions that are independent of the government to ensure effective checks and balances. The National Audit Office is one such institution and we need to cherish it.