Frequently Asked Questions - Audit Informaion

The Office of the Auditor-General (OAG) is an Independent Office established under Audit Office Act (Chapter 22:18). The Office is charged with the primary oversight / assurance role of ensuring accountability within the three arms of government (the Legislature, the Judiciary and the Executive) as well as the Constitutional Commissions and Independent Office.

The functions of the OAG are described in section 309 TO 314 of the Constitution and further regulated in the Audit Office Act (Chapter 22:18)

The Deputy-Auditor-General (DAG) is the head of administration of the institution, performing duties in terms of sections of the audit office act. He/she is responsible for the overall performance of the organisation and is directly accountable to the Auditor-General. The DAG is the Accounting Officer for the organisation.

The OAG audits and reports on accounts, financial statements and financial management of:

1. all Ministries and state departments and administrations;
2. all municipalities and municipal entities;
3. all constitutional institutions; and
4. Any other institution or accounting entity that has used public funds in discharging its duties.

The Constitution guarantees the independence of the OAG from government and stipulates that the OAG is subject only to the constitution and the law.

The OAG is accountable to the Parliament  in terms of section 309 of the Constitution and section 3(d) of the PAA and has to report on its activities and performance of its functions in terms of section 10 of the PAA at least once a year.

Certification of accounts to assure fiscal responsibility

The auditor General after examining the accounts transmitted to her\him , will issue and sign a certificate recording the result of his\her examination and prepare a report to be submitted before or on 30th June each year.

The end product of this exercise is an annual audit report on each audited entity that is presented to Parliament.

Continuous audit presence to assure on managerial accountability

Continuous audit ensures that the office is proactive, preventive and deterrent to fraud & corruption, wastage and abuse of public resources. This requires the auditor to constantly be on the ground to continuously assess the risks brought about by the evolving environment so as to: perform “real time” transactions testing and data analysis that enables timely recommendations; respond instantly to issues of national, and any public concerns that require immediate audit or investigation; optimize use of audit resources while increasing audit activity and improve financial systems and business processes for effective risk management, control and governance.

Performance audit to assure on service delivery to Zimbabweans

This is audit work responding directly to the bill of rights and social rights of Zimbabweans that will be met through development and implementation of programmes such as health, clean and safe water, education, housing and social security.

We respond to the economy, efficiency and effectiveness with which the resources are utilized to deliver services to the public. This Office assesses whether the programmes implemented lead to planned results, outputs and outcomes that positively transform the lives of citizens.

The products of this audit are performance audit reports which are issued at the end of the audit exercise.

Our reports are submitted to Parliament who represent the people of Zimbabwe.

The reports are discussed at the relevant committees i.e. Public Accounts Committees (PAC). Where necessary the accounting officers are called upon for interrogation.

After discussions are complete the Parliamentary committees with the assistance of the Office of the Auditor-General give recommendations which must be implemented by the entity concerned. Thereafter, the Auditor-General follows up to confirm whether the recommendations have been implemented.

The relationship is one of partnership in the oversight role. This is how it works. The Executive (Finance Minister) submits a budget to Parliament for allocation of resources. Once Parliament provides the resources (appropriates) and the President, the executive implements the programmes as budgeted for; which should be geared towards service delivery.

The executive has to account for the funds provided at the end of each financial year through financial statements to the Auditor-General for Audit. Parliament requires the Auditor-General to confirm whether the funds have been applied lawfully and in an effective way. The Auditor-General submits his audit reports to Parliament for discussions, recommendations and action.

The Auditor-General is also audited by a public auditor registered under the Public accountants and auditors act ( chapter 27:12) and appointed by the commission.

The final product of our audit of the financial statement is an audit opinion, in which the Auditor-General expresses his/her satisfaction or non-satisfaction of the financial statements. The Auditor-General’s opinions are unqualified, qualified, adverse or disclaimer. The specific explanations on the opinion are as follows:

 An unqualified opinion is a clean opinion, meaning that the financial transactions by and large were recorded properly and are in agreement with underlying accounting records.

 A qualified opinion means that although by and large the financial transactions are recorded and are deemed to be in agreement with the underlying records, there may be cases where the Auditor-General is unsatisfied with the veracity of certain expenditures, which in his view may not be significant. Hence, except for such unsupported expenditure, the accounts reflect by and large a true and fair situation.

 An adverse opinion means that although the financial transactions are recorded and there are books of accounts, the Auditor-General may be unsatisfied with the veracity of significant amounts of expenditure. Consequently, the Auditor-General cannot give a clean or unqualified opinion; and gives an adverse opinion.

A disclaimer of opinion is serious and means that there was no basis upon which the Auditor-General can satisfactorily undertake an audit because the accounting records are unreliable; there are no verifiable supporting documentation and explanations for transactions. Consequently, the Auditor-General can neither give a qualified nor an adverse opinion; and gives a disclaimer.

Apart from the financial statements, the Auditor-General through his/ her continuous audit assignments and performance based audit; issues other audit reports throughout the year as well as reports on specially requested audit by PAC and the President. These reports are destined to Parliament and the President.