Establishment of Audit Recommendations and Implementation Committees (ARICS) in councils across the country is being verified and reviewed to address recurrence of audit queries in the local authorities.

Internal auditors from the National Local Government Finance Committee (NLGFC) and the Ministry of Local Government (MoLG) are carrying out the exercise jointly.

NLGFC Audit Manager, Thomson Longwe, told NLGFC Newsletter that the team has been visiting councils across the country to establish whether the committees exist and are operating in line with policy guidance from the Secretary to the Treasury.

According to Longwe, Secretary to the Treasury issued a circular in November 2005 directing all Controlling Officers to form an Audit Recommendation and Implementation Committees (ARIC) at every council to effectively facilitate resolving of audit queries.

“The goal of this exercise is to review whether these committees were established and see to it that they are operational,” said Longwe.

He explained that a functional ARIC is key to addressing recurring Audit issues in councils hence the need to know the operational status of these committees and where possible come up with intervention measures for further improvements.

“The Audit Recommendation and Implementation Committees will assist Controlling Officers to resolve audit findings in an effective and timely manner in order to improve the control environment of Councils in line with Section 10-1(p) of the Public Finance Management Act of (2003),” he said.

After this exercise, members of functioning ARIC committees will have a training that will be facilitated by NLGFC and Ministry of Local Government.