Stress on quality auditing with int'l best practice

Public sector role in the economic development is very vast and pervading. So the quality of reporting and auditing in line with the international best practice is vital for ensuring transparency and accountability in this sector. 

Chartered Accountants should work together with the office of Comptroller and Auditor General (OCAG) with a view to contributing in the area of development of Public Sector Financial Reporting and Public Sector Auditing system of the country.

Experts made these observations at a Virtual Members’ Conference on ‘Impact of Public Financial Reforms in Bangladesh on Public Sector Financial Reporting and Public Sector Auditing’ organized by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh (ICAB) on Saturday, 20 March 2021. 

Mohammad Muslim Chowdhury, Comptroller and Auditor General of Bangladesh (CAG) and Former Secretary, Ministry of Finance, Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh attended the conference as the chief guest.  Md Humayun Kabir, Member Council and past president of ICAB presided over the Members’ Conference as the session chairman.

Toufique Shafiqul Islam, BCS (Audit & Accountant) Implementation Support Consultants of Strengthening PFM to Enable Service Delivery (SPFMS), Finance Division and Sk. Ashik Iqbal, CPA Partner of Nurul Faruk Hasan & Co jointly presented the keynote paper. 

Md.  Ekhlasur  Rahman, Additional  Secretary, Finance  Division, Bilquis Jahan Rimi, Joint Secretary, Finance Division, Ministry of Finance, and Winston P O Cole, Lead Governance Specialist, Financial Management, World Bank joined the conference as panelists.

Mohammad Muslim Chowdhury, comptroller and auditor general of Bangladesh, said Public Sector Financial Management (PSFM) reforms is not a short term, even medium term goal, it is a long term process. In USA, it took 25 years for development of Public Sector Financial Management (PSFM), he said adding that in the case of developing or under developing countries, PSFM reform would take much time the range may be -one generation. The journey of PSFM reform is not a comfortable journey, he observed. The CAG was hopeful that the arduous journey will be over when the professionals like new young CAs will come out with new ideas and innovation in accounting and auditing system specially in the public sector financial management (PSFM). 

From next fiscal year, all the transaction by 10,000 entities would be done on a real-time basis, including the cash flow, he further said. 

In his keynote paper, Toufique Shafiqul Islam, a consultant of finance ministry, said the chartered accountants' (CA) firms have the scope for financial audit on 178 extra budgetary and public enterprise organisations. Islam said the challenges that CA firms face during the auditing of the public enterprises are ensuring independences, increasing the coverage of audit and timely submission of audit report to the parliament.

Some other challenges they face while ensuring citizens' participations, building awareness, conducting more performance audit and financial audit, using modern auditing technology, proper monitoring, improving the quality of audit report and engaging more professional bodies, he said.

Bilquis Jahan Rimi, joint secretary of the finance division, said the financial reforms in Bangladesh started in 1989 and ended in 2001. The IPSAS is underway to be implemented in future in Bangladesh, Rimi said.

She said the field level officials of the ministries of health and education have been preparing the budget for the next fiscal year. 

ICAB President Mahmudul Hasan Khusru FCA said, public sector role in the economic development is very vast and all pervading. So the quality of reporting and auditing in line with the international best practice is vital for ensuring transparency and accountability in this sector. He said, chartered accountants can working together with OCAG with a view to contributing in the area of development of Public Sector Financial Reporting and Public Sector Auditing system.

He also said, International Public Sector Accounting Standards which is indeed public sector reporting framework is for improving the transparency and accountability in public sector financial reporting, through the international Accrual Basis accounting standards has been developed for use by governments and other public sector entities around the world. We must adopt this today or tomorrow.  May be gradually from cash basis IPSAS to accrual basis IPSAS, he went on.