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The new Auditor General for Wales, Jeremy Colman, today publishes his first annual report on the financial audit of the Assembly and related public bodies excluding the NHS. This report examines the audit of accounts for the year 2003-4 and follows up on issues in last year’s report namely procurement and European Structural Funds.
The Auditor General reports that standards of financial management and probity in Wales are high. Audited bodies have made good progress in how they manage financial resources and there have been positive developments in public sector procurement in Wales. However, he also reports that public bodies within the central government sector in Wales need to make better use of accounting information and continue to strengthen financial management of European funded projects.
The Auditor General for Wales, Jeremy Colman, said today:
“As the Welsh block budget continues to grow, so does the importance of effective financial management by the National Assembly for Wales and its related bodies. It is encouraging to see that previous high standards of probity are being maintained. Citizens in Wales can be confident that the annual financial statements are properly prepared and that financial resources have been used for the purposes for which they were intended. Nonetheless, there is a great need to make sure that year-end accounts are prepared promptly and effectively and that central government in Wales is keeping abreast of the many demands of a rapidly growing budget and ever-more-demanding financial frameworks. In presenting this report I must pay tribute to the contribution of my predecessor Sir John Bourn under whose tenure these accounts have been examined.”
Notes to Editors:
• The ‘General Report of the Auditor General for Wales 2005: Financial audit of central government bodies in Wales’ was published on 30 June 2005 and is available on the web site at http://www.wao.gov.uk/.
• The Wales Audit Office (WAO) is independent of government and is responsible for the annual audit of some £19 billion of annual public expenditure.
• The WAO was created on 1st April 2005 following the passing of the Public Audit (Wales) Act, which expanded the functions of the Auditor General for Wales and enabled the transfer of staffs from the Audit Commission in Wales and National Audit Office in Wales to his employment.
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