Report on the work and activities of the National Audit Office – 2014

Anthony C. Mifsud, Auditor General, presented to the Hon. Dr. Angelo Farrugia, President of the Chamber of Representatives, the annual report on the Work and Activities of the National Audit Office (NAO) for the year ending 31 December 2014.

The Auditor General introduces the report with an overview of the activities, developments, tasks and achievements by the NAO for the year being reported upon.

The Report explains the Office’s business model and its operational objectives.  It refers to reports published by the Office throughout 2014, which include Financial and Compliance, Special and Investigative, Performance and IT Audits. Summaries of all audit reports published throughout 2014 are also included.

NAO’s interaction with the Public Accounts Committee and NAO Accounts Committee of the House of Representatives throughout 2014 are also described.

The Report highlights the main local and overseas meetings in which NAO senior officials actively participated in.  Local visits included a visit by H.E. Marie Louise Coleiro, President of Malta and an official visit at NAO by Dr Louis Galea, the Maltese Member at the European Court of Auditors. Overseas meetings included visits by NAO senior officials to the EU Network of Supreme Audit Institutions (so called EU Contact Committee), and the IX EUROSAI (European Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions) Congress.

Reference in the Report is made to the 200th Anniversary of the Office as a State Audit Institution.  For this anniversary the NAO hosted the 22nd Conference of Commonwealth Auditors General between 24 and 27 March 2014.  The Conference, entitled ‘Securing Independence of SAIs to improve the Effectiveness of Reporting and Communication of Audit Findings’ was attended by 87 delegates from 35 Commonwealth countries.

As also explained in the Report, as part of the 200th Anniversary celebrations, the Office issued a revised  Edition of the NAO publication entitled ‘Guardian of the Public Purse.