Page 4928 - Week 15 - Thursday, 8 December 1994
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(ii) the Monitoring of Budget Supplementation by the Legislative
Assembly;
the Financial Management of ACT Health; and
(iv) Petrol Supply Arrangements in the ACT.
To date the committee has presented 19 reports to the current Assembly.
Further statistics also give some measure of the activities of the Public Accounts Committee, and provide an insight into the demands which have been placed upon its members.
Committee meetings were scheduled for Monday mornings between 11.00am and 12.30pm. The committee held 90 meetings including public hearings.
The objective measurement of the committees performance on a qualitative basis is less definable. Nevertheless, the committee has a record of almost complete unanimity in bringing down reports which have taken a constructive approach in redressing revealed administrative and financial deficiencies and have been firm in their criticism of the administration where this has been warranted.
With regard to reports by the Auditor-General, the committees practice has been to invite the relevant Minister to comment to the committee on the audit findings and to refer to the Ministers response in its review report. Where appropriate, the committee has also met with the Auditor-General to clarify audit findings and, with the agreement of the relevant Ministers, has also discussed audit findings with senior departmental officials.
The committee also held a number of public inquiries associated with audit reports during which private individuals and private sector organisations were invited to provide evidence on matters brought up in audits which were of direct relevance to their operations. In other cases, individuals and private sector bodies were invited to provide written submissions on such matters.
The committee notes that Ministers have readily assisted the committee as have the Auditor-General and departmental officials and the committee expresses its appreciation for assistance so provided.
Accrual Budgeting and Accounting
It is the intention that ACT Government agencies will have accrual accounting in place by 1996 -97. A pilot program has been introduced in the Department of Health and will be progressively moving through the Departments of Education and Training, and the Treasury to other Departments.
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