RAA(AG-SP)2005/7429                                                                                          25th October, 2005

Office Order

To ensure proper accountal of the properties acquired by the government by way of direct acquitions, improvements or constructions, all the government agencies are responsible to maintain updated inventories of properties at all times in line with the Property Management Manual, Financial Rules and Regulations 2001. Besides, the agencies should also ensure that the properties are properly maintained and utilized for rightful purposes, that their ownership do not get diluted and that there is always an officer who remains accountable in respect of a property.

Notwithstanding the requirement stipulated in the PMM, there had been instances of discrepancies emanated from non adherence to the certain provisions of the PMM.

In order to mitigate reoccurrences of such instances in future, all the auditors are therefore, directed to take the inventories of all the properties while taking up the audit of any governmental agencies in addition to the appraisal of the procurement and accounting procedures and the internal controls measures adopted by the individual line agencies.

This is issued for immediate compliance of the auditors.

 

Kunzang Wangdi
Auditor General of Bhutan

RAA(AG-SP)2005/6338                                                                           3^rd August, 2005

 Office Order

Whereas the Auditors and Officers of the Royal Audit Authority having gathered in Thimphu from 21^st to 23^rd July, 2005 to attend the 8^th Annual Audit Conference 2005 on the theme “Auditing in an IT Environment” and having deliberated on various subjects; and a plan of action adopted; the following directives for implementation of the Resolutions of the Conference are issued for immediate implementation:

 1.      Training and Attachment Courses to IT Audit Core Group members.

The Human Resource and International Relations Division (HR&IRD) will immediately explore possibilities for attachment courses for the Core Group members with the Comptroller & Auditor General of India and other Supreme Audit Institutions.

For financing of training activities the HR&IRD, Policy, Planning & Annual Audit Report Division and Core Group members shall immediately seek for donor supports. The outcome shall be reported during the mid-year review meeting in January 2006. The HR&IRD shall also consider exploring appropriate training immediately should the fund position from the DANIDA Project permits. 

2.      IT Audit. 

While detailed IT Audit Plan shall be tabled in the ensuing mid year review meeting in January 2006 the Core Group to begin with shall take up audit of development & use of websites and soft ware immediately. 

3.      Impart training of IT auditing skills. 

The Core Group in co-ordination with the HR&IRD shall be responsible to impart training to all other auditors on IT auditing skills and methodologies once they are thoroughly familiarized with the concepts and auditing skills.

4.      Budget Provision for procurement of IT audit tools. 

The IT section in collaboration with the Core Group shall carry out the need assessment of the software like IDEA, SQL, ACL and EVM. The need assessment for the software IDEA shall be given immediate priority as there is already a budget provision under DANIDA Project. Depending on the result of need assessment the Administration & Finance Division shall propose the appropriate budget in the next Financial Year i.e. 2006-2007.  

5.      IT Audit Guidelines/ Standards. 

The Core Group shall table for discussion the draft IT Audit Guidelines for the Royal Audit Authority in the 9th Annual Audit Conference 2006. All relevant standards including that of INTOSAI and ASOSAI shall be referred to for more details. 

6.      Online CISA examinations. 

The HR & IRD shall initially explore the detailed background of the Certificate in Information Systems Audit (CISA) examinations and its related financial implications before such exams are officially allowed and arranged to the potential candidates.  

7.      Training on BAS & RMS. 

The officials of the Royal Audit Authority, who were already trained in BAS will impart training on the subject to the auditors over next two years. The resource speakers shall include Gattu Dukpa, DCA, Puran K. Dural, Sr. Auditor, Karma Sangay, Auditor, Gem Dorji, and Chejay Norbu, Auditor.  

The HR & IRD shall liaise with the Department of Revenue & Customs for imparting training on Revenue Management Systems to all the auditors.  

8.      Categorization of audit observations. 

Newly Coded Categories of audit observations have been already distributed for implementation. In the event any auditors come across with some additional observations the Policy, Planning & Annual Audit Report Division may be informed for necessary liaison with IT Section and accordingly issue office order for implementation alike by rest of the auditors. 

9.      Country Paper for 15^th ISCITA Meeting to be held in Brazil in 2006. 

Jigmi Rinzin, Chief, CFID and Tashi, Head, HR & IRD shall jointly prepare the Country Paper for the 15^th INTOSAI Standing Committee on IT Audit (ISCITA) Meeting to be held in Brazil in 2006. 

10.  Splitting of agencies by units, projects and activities in the Inspection Reports. 

In order to get the focused attention in our reports and where ever warranted all Inspection Reports to the extent possible shall hereafter be split up by agencies, units, projects and activities. 

11.  Addressee of the Inspection Reports of the Geogs. 

As clearly specified in the Geog Yargay Tshogchung Chathrim 2002 all reports pertaining to the audit of accounts and operations of the Geog Administrations under respective Dzongkhags shall be addressed to the Chairman with a copy each to Ministry of Home & Cultural Affairs and Ministry of Finance for its review. 

12.  Penalty for the late deposit of revenue by the Gups. 

As DYT and GYT Chhathrim are silent on the imposition of penalty on the late deposit of revenue all divisions shall hereafter mention the levying of penalty of 24% p.a in accordance to the Revised Taxation Rules of the Royal Government.  

13.  Uniform reporting of donor funded projects. 

Jigmi Rinzin, Chairman, RAA Audit Committee shall develop standard guidelines and formats for uniform reporting of donor funded projects. All prior necessary comments from the donors concerned shall be sought and incorporated. The format shall be presented during the Mid Year Review Meeting to be held on 17^th & 18^th January 2006 for implementation thereafter. 

14.  Deposits of recoverable amounts reported in the certification reports.  

If the recoverable amount pertained to the ongoing projects it shall be made to deposit into the respective project account while the amount for the closed and completed projects shall invariably be deposited into Audit Recoveries Account. Should there be issue of refund from the ARA such requests shall be forwarded to the Ministry of Finance. 

15.  Annual Audit Reports.  

All future editions of the Annual Audit Reports shall be issued in 3 volumes simultaneously for Government agencies & Armed Forces, Financial Institutions & Corporations and NGOs & Trust Funds. Chairman, RAA Audit Committee and Head, DPTTA shall seek the consent of NGOs and Trust Funds as to whether their Inspection Reports can be made part of the Annual Audit Report. 

16.  Harmonization of corporate audits. 

The Chairman, RAA Audit Committee and the Head, DPTTA shall organize discussions with Company CEOs on harmonizing the propriety audits, internal audits, tax audits and the statutory audits. Discussion shall also include the payment of appropriate audit fees commensurate with revised Terms of References. The outcome of this discussion shall be reported in the mid-year review meeting in January 2006. 

17.  Uniform reporting of Outstanding Advances. 

In the Inspection Reports all Outstanding Advances shall invariably be reflected under two headings: One under Prior Year Advances as at the end of particular Financial Year and another under Current Year Advances as on the end date of audit- Refer Format A & B.

18. (a) Dzongkha Development Plan. 

Lopon Chador, DDA focal person shall formulate a dynamic plan for implementation of Dzongkha Language Policy in the RAA for the Year 2005-2006. Accordingly, the plan shall be submitted to the forthcoming PPPCCM for endorsement. 

18    (b) Issuance of Audit Clearance Certificate in Dzongkha. 

Audit Clearance Certificate shall hereafter be issued in Dzongkha with Romanized designation of employees. Ugyen Dem, Computer Operator shall assist Lopon Chador, DDA focal person from 9 am to 3 pm daily until 30^th September, 2005 for typing the details of the employees. DDA focal person and IT Section shall collaborate and start issuing ACC in Dzongkha latest by the end of October, 2005. 

18 (c) Official correspondence in Dzongkha. 

In addition to Promotion Order, Transfer Order, Audit Intimation and Annual Audit Report which are already done in Dzongkha other official correspondence like Leave Application, Attendance Register and Vehicle Requisition shall immediately be done in Dzongkha as well. Lopon Chador shall carry out the necessary translation. 

IT Section in consultation with Administration & Finance Division shall procure MS Office 2003 immediately to support installation of Dzongkha Unicode in all office computers. 

19.  Drafting of Theme Paper for the 9^th Annual Audit Conference.  

Kelzang Namgyel, ACA, Chhimi Dorji, ACA and Rinzin Lhamo, ACA shall draft the Theme Paper "Inroads to Performance Auditing" for the 9^th Annual Audit Conference. 

This order is issued for strict immediate compliance.

(Kunzang Wangdi)
Auditor General of Bhutan.

RAA(AG-SP)/2005/4748

Dated:  23^rd March 2005

 Office Order

To,

1. Asst. Auditor Generals,
   (DSA, DPTTA, OAAGs)

2. Team Leaders,
    Royal Audit Authority,

During the session, the Royal Audit Authority had with the Second Engineering Conference organized by the Ministry of Works and Human Settlement, the representatives for the Construction Industry while supporting recoveries of dues from the contractors made by the RAA, pleaded that the payments due to them from the government, which as per the rules are to be made within a period of 30 days, be also looked into.  This is because under the prevailing situation, the Departments/Employers do not cooperate, while the auditors are also silent. 

In view of the above, henceforth Asst. Auditor Generals shall ensure that during the course of an auditing, the instances of such undue and reasonable delays that adversely affected the private sector effectiveness be reported to the undersigned.

Further it has been pointed out that government organizations carry out activities and on completion of the work, payments are denied on the pretext that there is no budgetary provision.

Such instance should also be reviewed and reported in order to enable the Royal Government be apprised if these are true.

This is for information and compliance.

(Kunzang Wangdi)
Auditor General of Bhutan.
 

Dated: 11th March 2005

Inter Office Memo

 To,
1. The Head of AFD,
2. Head of Departments,
3. Head of Divisions,

The cleanliness is very important for any office. More so in the Royal Audit Authority, it is critical to maintain cleanliness, discipline and basic etiquette by both the officials working in Audit and the guest visiting us.

The current situation of:

i). Cleanliness of the offices including toilet, window glass panes, door glass panes,
ii). Driglam namshag; and
iii). Observe of No Smoking and chewing doma

need the immediate attention of every member of the office.

Henceforth a three monthly assessment of hygiene, cleanliness and tidiness of every area including the surrounding of the office will be made by the following Committee:

to select the best and the worst.

The Committee can develop its own guidelines for selection. Guidelines for sanitation, environment & hygienic conditions under the RAA House Keeping Guidelines may be referred while framing the Committee guidelines.

(Kunzang Wangdi)
Auditor General of Bhutan.