b) I am also required by the terms of Section 68 (3) of the Local Government Act, and Section 32 (3) of the Tribal Land Regulations to audit the accounts of the local authorities (city councils, town councils, township authorities and district councils) and land boards, and submit my reports thereon together with the audited statements to the Chief Executive Officers of these entities, who shall cause them to be laid before their respective Authorities and Boards, as the case may be. 

## 2. Scope of Public Accounts 

The scope of the audit mandate, in terms of Section 124 of the Constitution and of other relevant governing Acts, covers the accounts of all the Ministries and extra-Ministerial Departments of Government, of all local authorities and land boards and selected parastatal organizations. 

In addition, under the Public Audit Act, I am required to carry out performance audits of the various entities of Government, local authorities and land boards to assess the extent to which value for money has been obtained in the use of the resources at the disposal of those entities. 

In terms of the same Act, notwithstanding the provision of any other written law for the audit, I am empowered to carry out investigations into the financial affairs of any public corporation, where I consider it in the public interest to do so. 

## 3. Extent of Audits 

The statutory audit is discharged by a programme of test checks and examinations which are applied, in conformity with standard audit practice, selectively over the year of account under review. The checks are intended to provide an overall assurance of the general accuracy and propriety of Government’s financial and accounting transactions and not to disclose each and every accounting error or financial irregularity. With the considerable growth in recent years in Government revenues and expenditures, the examination of the accounts is, of necessity, increasingly executed by means of selective test checks and in-depth reviews which are designed to indicate possible areas of weaknesses in the systems of accounting and internal control. 

