Saturday 19 / July / 2025
Muscat: The Ministry of Finance has directed all government agencies to tighten their accounts and to allow auditors access to their financial records.
The move comes after auditors, who check that the agencies in question are properly carrying out their duties, reported they had only limited access to these documents, according to officials at Oman’s Ministry of Finance.
A circular issued by the Ministry said, “The Ministry of Finance requires government units to fully give power to the internal audit units in checking all the financial records.”
The audit teams were also authorised to take the necessary steps to collect revenue owed to government units, and to propose procedures to rationalise expenditure of government units.
In a statement, the Ministry added, “All government units should be committed to enable the internal audit units to exercise all the powers of audit and supervision entrusted to them. All these government units should directly follow the supervision of the competent minister or the head of the board of directors in the respective public bodies and their institutions”
It added, “This circular grants internal audit units the powers to review revenue, contracts and related agreements, in addition to reviewing the stocks and bonds of each government unit prior to disbursement, taking into account the laws and regulations governing the bond issue.”
In addition, the internal audit units have the powers to check accounts of that institution, review the accounting entries, review the final lists of the government unit and their inventories and prepare the reports as they see fit to be submitted to the Ministry and to the State Audit Institution (SAI).
“Audit units are given powers of control over financial transactions, government-owned assets, and issue proposals for spending controls and protection of public funds, while enabling audit units to be directly attached to the highest authority in the government institution,” the circular added.
