News
Finances of headless Audit Office placed under Deputy AG
View(s):- Even staff salaries cannot be paid; as crisis deepens, Ministry intervenes
The Finance Ministry has hastily delegated authority over the National Audit Office’s (NAO) financial matters to a Deputy Auditor General, as the delay in appointing an Auditor General risked even staff salaries going unpaid.
The Auditor General is the Chief Accounting Officer of the NAO.
The ministry secretary delegated financial authority to the deputy (DAG) in charge of administration at the NAO till an Auditor General is appointed.
Typically, after the passing of the Appropriation Bill (Budget) in Parliament, the authority over finances is held by the Finance Minister, who delegates it to the Finance Ministry Secretary, who, in turn, delegates it to secretaries of other ministries.
But independent institutions like the NAO are not under any ministry. Therefore, their heads are treated as the Chief Accounting Authority (CAO).
“Somebody has to be appointed as CAO,” an official source said. “There was a request by the NAO that they cannot do any financial transactions, not even pay salaries, because nobody has the authority.”
The Auditor General’s position has been vacant since December 6. “The NAO couldn’t spend money from January onwards,” the source said. “So the Finance Ministry took the matter to President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, who is the Finance Minister, and the President has said to delegate authority to one of the NAO’s officers.”
As such, from this week, authority rests with Oshan Fernando, the Deputy Auditor General in charge of administration.
| No designated officer: NAO seeks RTIC advice The absence of an Auditor General has forced the National Audit Office (NAO) to ask the Right to Information Commission (RTI Commission) for advice in regard to its inability to appoint a designated officer (DO) under the Right to Information Act (RTI Act). The post of the Auditor General has been vacant since December 6, 2025. The NAO informed the RTI Commission earlier this week that, following the retirement of the previously appointed Designated Officer M.H.U.S.A. Wijekoon, Senior Deputy Auditor General, on January 5, 2026, problems had arisen in appointing a due successor to Mr Wijekoon under Section 23 of the RTI Act as a result of the absence of the Auditor General, who is the head of the department and the due appointing authority. Accordingly, the office has informed the RTI Commission of this fact and sought its advice on how it should proceed in conformity with the RTI Act. Section 23 requires all public authorities to appoint any number of information officers (IO) but only one DO. Once an information request is made to an IO who denies release of the information, an appeal may be made under Section 31 to the DO. If the DO also refuses to release the information, the third step thereafter is to make an appeal to the RTI Commission, which is empowered under Section 32 to affirm, vary or reverse the decision of the DO. The non-appointment of a DO by any public authority amounts to an infringement of the RTI Act, as citizens are then unable to proceed on the step-by-step process that the RTI Act provides for access to information. | |
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