With the National Parliament reconvening on Tuesday 10th August following a 6-month suspension, Transparency International PNG (TIPNG) has taken the opportunity to highlight that the majority of public bodies have failed to submit annual financial statements, as required under the Public Finance (Management) (Amendment) Act (PFMAA) 2016. Many have failed to provide reports for multiple years. As the end of the term of the 10th Parliament approaches, TIPNG is calling on the Members of Parliament and the Department of Finance to support the Auditor General’s Office (AGO) in making a commitment to ensuring public audit reports are submitted and tabled in Parliament, as a measure to improve the accountability of these entities in spending public funds. TIPNG’’s “ACCOUNTABILITY SCORECARD” uses the last available report from the AGO to show which public bodies andstatutory authorities have been accountable. Shockingly, only seven of these agencies have demonstrated some level of accountability since 2016, the rest of the 65 agencies have failed to report how they have spent billions of public funds provided to them via the budgetary process. This trend reflects a serious breakdown in financial management and represents a direct violation of the PFMAA 2016, Section 63 provision on Reports and Financial Statements. “The Minister of Finance and the Auditor General’s Office through recent announcements on the APEC Audit Report and the COVID-19 Audit Report, have articulated a greater appetite for more accountability in the use of public funds. While such efforts should be commended, the people of Papua New Guinea … Continue reading TIPNG SCORECARD SHOWS AUDIT REPORTS MISSING