Think-tank report calls for ‘fiscal wake-up’
Report from PMPA think-tank calls on audit profession to play greater role in securing improved corporate governance
A
report
released today by the
Public Management and
Policy Association (PMPA) think-tank is calling on the audit profession to
play a greater role in securing improved corporate governance and exercise more
fiscal transparency and accountability.
The report – a groundbreaking joint initiative between senior auditors from
the UK and USA– discusses the changing role of the public audit profession and
features contributions from the auditors general of the UK, Scotland, Wales and
Northern Ireland, as well as the
Audit
Commission chief executive.
In the report, David Walker, US comptroller general, describes how the US
Government Accountability Office (GAO) hosts roadshows across the country to
highlight the worsening fiscal problem. The ‘Fiscal Wake-up Tour’ has attracted
considerable interest.
‘Our mission has been to speak the truth about America’s worsening financial
condition and fiscal outlook, the need for timely action, and possible ways
forward,’ Walker said. ‘On several occasions, members of Congress, governors and
mayors have joined us. At every stop, we have made it a point to lay out the
facts in a professional, non-partisan and non-ideological manner.
‘Not everyone in Washington DC likes what the wake-up tour has to say, but as
comptroller general of the United States, I feel a responsibility to state the
facts, convenient or not. After all, if the head of the federal government’s
leading accountability agency is not willing to speak up, who will?’
Further reading:
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