Government Senator Don Wehby has suggested that a database for information sharing be established that will allow audit committees across the Administration to improve efficiency and output in relation to audited accounts.

“There are about 30 audit committees across the Government, and what you find [is] that there are gaps, because one agency may have a weakness in control, and another agency may have a weakness in control, but there’s no sharing of information or cross learning between these audit committees,” Wehby said.

“In other words, they have the same problem: one has dealt with it in an efficient way and one has the same problem. If we can create a database or a system that these 30 audit committees can share their experience, in terms of how they resolve certain problems, that is going to increase efficiency, and I would like to suggest that we have a system in place where these 30 audit committees can have a database where they can share information, in terms of weaknesses and controls,” he continued.

Wehby, who was making his contribution to the debate on the Financial Administration and Audit (Amendment) (No 2) Act, 2023 at Friday’s sitting of the Senate, concurred with Opposition Senator Peter Bunting that annual reports of public bodies were unacceptably outstanding, some for many years, which is unheard of within the private sector.

He suggested that one way the Government could realise improved efficiency in relation to auditing accounts is to embrace the use of appropriate technologies.

He noted, for example, that the company he represents (GraceKennedy) has companies all over the world and there is technology in place so that physical visits are not required to audit these companies. “You can stay in Jamaica and do audits for the companies all over the world…because of the software systems that we have in place,” he said.

“We need to ensure that in Government we have the latest audit tools so we can become more efficient in terms of the software that we are using to audit these various companies, and that would help in terms of accurate and timely reporting,” he stated.

In the meantime, Wehby said that while he is concerned about outstanding audited accounts, he is even more concerned about management accounts being significantly behind.

“If management accounts are significantly behind, they are really inviting corruption in the respective units, and I would also like to suggest that in the interim, if the audited accounts are not ready because of the lack of resources in the audit companies, let us get the internal audit department to certify that the management accounts are in order, although they are unaudited by an external body, so at least [they] are up to date and it has been certified by the internal audit and reviewed by the board,” he said.

The Financial Administration and Audit (Amendment) (No 2) Act, which was piloted by Leader of Government Business in the Senate Kamina Johnson Smith was later approved by the senators. The Bill sought to amend the legislative provisions to reflect and support the administrative and operational realities of the integration of the Audit Commission into the Internal Audit Directorate of the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service in 2018 as part of Government’s rationalisation of public bodies aimed at improved efficiency.