MUSCAT: The State Audit Institution (SAI) submitted its 2020 report to His Majesty Sultan Haitham bin Tarik.
Shaikh Nasser bin Hilal al Maawali, Chairman of SAI submitted copies of the report to the Council of Ministers, the State Council and Majlis Ash’shura in accordance with the Basic Law of the State promulgated by Royal Decree 6/2021, and Article (29) of the State Audit Law promulgated by Royal Decree 111/2011.
The report, collected from the SAI’s eight branches in the governorates of the Sultanate of Oman, showed its annual audit plan for 2020 which included 156 audit missions of all types that fall under the purview of SAI. The result was the issuance of 179 audit reports.
The report was classified into three main parts. The first part included content related to the state’s administrative apparatus, while the second part dealt with state-owned companies and public authorities and establishments. The third part of the report dealt with content related to the field of promoting integrity and detecting financial and administrative violations.
At the level of the units of the state’s administrative apparatus, the auditing procedures carried out by SAI on some of these units resulted in a number of observations that need to be addressed by the authorities by developing appropriate solutions with some entities began to take the necessary measures to address and avoid such observations.
The report also included many topics of importance related to performance control for a number of authorities, including those related to rationalizing spending, diversifying sources of income, maximizing non-oil revenues, improving performance and quality of services, improving the business environment, and strengthening internal control systems to achieve the desired goals efficiently and economically.
The second part of the report dealing with the state-owned companies and public authorities and establishments, the audit results unveiled some observations that can be developed and improved
The report said that despite the exceptional conditions that occurred in 2020 represented by continued decline in global oil prices and the economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, SAI was able to realize its plan and achieve many of the targeted results. — ONA
