As an investigator and reporter the RAA will submit reports on corruption and fraud to the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), according to the Auditor General. More than 30 reports on corruption have, so far, been sent to the ACC.

He explained that RAA had started preparing for a new role in the changing political system as mandated by the draft Constitution and the Royal Audit Act.

“We were submitting our Annual Audit reports to His Majesty the King but the Constitution requires that we report to the King, the Prime Minister and Parliament,” he said. “This year we reported to the Prime Minister who presented the report to the National Assembly.”

The theme for the 10th annual audit conference, which started on July 25, was “RAA’s role as a constitutional body”. The Auditor General told Kuensel that audit officials had to understand their roles and responsibilities in the democratic system and prepare for the change. The draft Constitution stated that the RAA will, “without fear or favour”, audit accounts of all departments and offices of the government including all offices in the legislature and the judiciary, all public authorities and bodies administering public funds, the police and the defence forces as well as the revenues, public and other monies received and the advances and reserves of Bhutan.

An auditor from RAA said that they were also working towards a shift from transaction based auditing to performance based auditing. According to her, performance based auditing will review the effectiveness of the operations and programmes in a more detailed and systematic manner. “With stronger internal audit systems in the agencies, the shift to performance based auditing would be made easier,” she said.

The Auditor General also said that RAA had taken initiatives to fulfill its mandate. “But to take on greater responsibilities, we must improve the internal audit system and rely on it for decision-making,” he said. The RAA will establish a western regional office and environmental audit and IT audit sections to meet the fast changing social, environmental and technological requirements.

The RAA conducted 482 audits during the financial year 2006-2007 as planned and about Nu. 50.391 million was collected as audit recoveries, up from Nu. 33.793 million the previous year. During this period RAA issued 10,389 audit clearance certificates, compared with 7,744 certificates in 2005-2006.

About 115 audit officials were present for the three-day audit conference.