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THE JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC SCIENCES: THEORY AND PRACTICE, V.79, # 1, 2022, pp. 69-79
The Ethiopian government recognized the need to provide citizens with effective,
efficient, and timely public service as part of its objective to improve overall public
service performance. Economic prosperity, which serves as a measurement of the
living standards of the people under a specific policy, is strengthened by the power
of oversight bodies like the Office of the Auditor General. According to the
Ethiopian constitution 1994 article 101subarticle 2, The office of Auditor General of
Ethiopia shall audit and inspect the accounts of ministries and other agencies of the
Federal Government to ensure that expenditures are properly made for activities
carried out during the fiscal year and in accordance with the approved allocations,
and submit his reports thereon to the House of Peoples' Representatives.
1.1 The problem Statement
The leading public sector audit bodies in a nation are the Supreme Audit Institutions
(SAIs) in many countries and office of auditor general (OFAG) in some countries.
Their main responsibility is to determine if public monies are used effectively,
economically, and efficiently while adhering to all applicable laws and regulations
as well as the priorities of the country. They achieve this by providing impartial,
thorough audit reports designed to improve how governments handle public
resources. By ensuring that money is wisely spent, they can prevent fraud and
contribute to the reduction of poverty while also promoting sustainable national
development. They are an important element of a nation's public financial
management system, assuring parliaments, citizens, development partners, and
others that governments are effectively managing their finances (OECD, 2010).
Government revenue and expenditure audits are the responsibility of supreme audit
institutions, which are national-level watchdog institutions. They ensure that resources
are spent in accordance with national government directives by closely examining
public financial management and reporting (Transparency International, 2008).
However, audit institutions frequently operate in unstable democracies in developing
nations where the judiciary and parliament are unable to hold the government
accountable, undermining the independence of audit institutions. Furthermore, it is
frequently difficult to complete the rigorous, high-quality audits required to ensure
transparency, openness, and accountability in the administration of public finances
due to a lack of resources and technical expertise (Mbaguta, 2020).Ethiopia is one of
the world's emerging nations. “Poverty is made worse by corruption, which can be
petty or grand and hinders progress.”
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