President Dr Arif Alvi on Thursday emphasized the need of improving the legal framework to further strengthen transparency in government spending and financial accountability.
Speaking at a meeting during his visit to the Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP) office, the president said transparency could be improved by documentation of the economy and digitizing the government’s transactions.
AGP Muhammad Ajmal Gondal briefed the president about the role and performance of the office.
President Alvi said that the use of modern technology would improve the performance of the AGP.
He stressed the need to create public awareness about the AGP’s role, its activities and the audit findings. He said the parliamentary oversight was important to ensure the judicious use of the public money and promote transparency in the government departments.
President Alvi appreciated the AGP’s role in improving parliamentary oversight and transparency in the government sector. He said the Auditor General’s role in identifying flaws and stabilizing the government’s financial management system was very important.
During the meeting, the Auditor General of Pakistan informed the president about the role of the institution in the process of financial accountability.
“The office of the Auditor General of Pakistan is taking steps to make the audit process more effective.”
It was informed that the Auditor General had completed 95% compliance audits in the fiscal year 2022-23.
Improvements in audit and accounting processes would promote transparency, accountability and good governance, the meeting was told.
Similarly it was informed that steps were underway to incorporate advanced technology platforms and artificial intelligence tools into the audit process.
The meeting was further informed that digitization of the accounting process helped in payments to the pensioners in an effective way.
With the help of digitization, the performance of the institution had improved which directly benefited the citizens, the president was informed.—APP
