ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT BOARD (EDB)

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT BOARD (EDB)

**

(Audit by the Auditor-General): **

43.

Mr Siew Kum Hong asked the Prime Minister and Minister for Finance (a) if he will explain why the Economic Development Board was only audited by the Auditor-General for the first time after 46 years; (b) what is the frequency of audits by the Auditor-General on Government agencies; and (c) whether there are any Government agencies which have not been audited by the Auditor-General in the last five years.

Column: 1139

Mr Lee Hsien Loong: All Government agencies are audited annually. The Auditor-General (AG) currently audits the accounts of all Government Ministries and departments on an annual basis. In addition, the AG performs annual audits on certain statutory boards, for example, MAS, CPFB, and HDB. These are typically large statutory boards with substantial assets. The other statutory boards are audited annually by commercial auditors appointed by the respective Ministers, except for the years when they are rotated for audit by the AG.

In the case of EDB, until 1989, the EDB Act did not provide for AG to audit its accounts. Nonetheless, EDB's accounts were audited annually by leading and reputable commercial auditors. As they had done a satisfactory job, they continued to audit EDB even after the EDB Act was amended in 1989 to allow the AG to audit its accounts.

In 2004, the Public Accounts Committee recommended that statutory boards that have been audited over a considerable period of time by commercial auditors be rotated back for audit by the AG. As a result of the recommendation, AG audited EDB’s accounts for FY2005/06. Going forward, AG intends to audit EDB as well as the other larger statutory boards at least once every five years.

For the last five years, 24 statutory boards were not rotated for audit by AG but which were nevertheless audited as per normal practice by commercial auditors.