Citizens key beneficiaries of audit governance: CAG

New Delhi: Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) Girish Chandra Murmu has on Monday said that citizens have been the main beneficiaries of audit governance and transparency in governments across the world. In his inaugural speech at 3rd Conference of Supreme Audit Leaders (SAI) of BRICS countries, Murmu said that SAIs need to increasingly engage external stakeholders to build greater trust and credibility.

However, SAIs need to test the information provided by citizens and civil society organisations with other information sources as well as the audit team's understanding of auditee's operating environments for objectivity and quality, he said.

Also, in the interest of transparency, SAIs must disclose the level of involvement by civil society in an audit, the CAG added.

"SAIs across the world have acknowledged citizens as key beneficiaries of their work and have engaged with them at various levels, depending on their unique country contexts, in delivering their accountability mandate," Murmu said.

He further stressed that citizen engagement in public

sector audits could guide SAIs in identifying high-risk areas of possible mismanagement

and inefficiencies in governance, thereby improving focus and effectiveness of our audit effort.