Last week, we began a discussion of the 2017 Auditor General’s report. So far, we examined the overall opinion given on the country’s accounts and felt that greater care needs to be exercised to ensure that such opinion is supported by adequate audit evidence. We also summarised the key findings as reflected in the executive summary of the report.
Judging from the almost daily media coverage of the report since it was made public, the Executive Summary did not appear to provide a complete representation of the key findings contained in the report. An executive summary should be concise and written for the benefit of officials and other stakeholders who may not initially have the time to go through an entire report, or who may have an interest in only certain aspects of the report. Having identified their areas of interest, these persons may at a later stage go through the detailed aspects of the report covering the areas of interest.
Today, we continue an examination of the 2017 Auditor General report by focusing on the twelve consolidated financial statements of the Government.