Call for state auditors to think ahead
State auditors to be more involved with analysing predicted financial outcomes after the US government was recently slated for misuse of funds in Iraq
The US’s top public sector auditor has called for state auditors to be more
involved with analysing predicted financial outcomes as well as scrutinising
past expenditure.
His comments came after the US government was slated recently for misuse of
funds in Iraq, UK auditors took issue with the suggestion, however.
Speaking at a CIPFA conference David M Walker, comptroller general of the US,
criticised the ‘myopia’ and ‘tunnel vision’ of US Congress as he identified a
‘large and growing’ fiscal imbalance in the US.
‘The legislative branch, which is my client, is part of the problem and needs
to be part of the solution,’ said Walker.
Scotland’s auditor general Robert Black warned: ‘There will be pressure to go
from insight to foresight, but we must avoid slipping into the futurology
business, which is not somewhere I want to go.’
Wales’ Auditor General Jeremy Colman said: ‘One of the major problems of
foresight is the nature of evidence that the audit is able to support.’