Analysis of The Report of The Auditor General on The Accounts of Financial Year Ending 31St December 2017

Improved public finance management has been the Zambian citizens’ outcry over the years. The Auditor General’s reports have highlighted cases that require serious attention on an annual basis. They include: cases of unaccounted for funds, wasteful expenditure and irregular payments. Resource wastefulness has continued amidst high poverty levels, high unemployment, poor social service delivery and general underdevelopment. According to the 2015 Living Conditions Monitoring Survey (LCMS), Zambia’s national poverty levels stands at 54.4% whilst rural poverty at 76.6%. Youth unemployment according to the 2017 Labour Force Survey stands at 17.4% and general unemployment statistic at 41.2%. Addressing these social and economic challenges require sufficient allocation and efficient utilization of resources. The Auditor-General’s Office in Zambia has a constitutional mandate to audit use of all public resources in the Republic to strengthen accountability and transparency with the aim of building public confidence. This is according to Article 212 of the Constitution. Article 212 requires the Auditor General to, not later than nine months after the end of a financial year, submit an audit report to the President and the National Assembly, on the accounts of the Republic audited in respect of the preceding financial year.