Need for body to assess mega projects
Published on: Wednesday, September 24, 2014
Kota Kinabalu: Malaysia should have a separate body to ensure check and balance in the nation's finances.Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Chairman, Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed, said the government should take the idea into account to produce financial transparency in terms of huge projects besides having a more focused budget assessment."The information can also be used by members of parliament during their debate enabling them to bring up precise information," he said, adding that currently the budget in Malaysia comes under the Economic Planning Unit (EPU) and Finance Ministry.
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It is (the practice), he further explained, applied in other countries whereby they have a department under parliament which comprises finance, technical and specialists who will evaluate the yearly budget prior to the budget tabling by their government."They will evaluate the proposed budget in order for it to be used as references by the members of parliament," he added.Nur Jazlan also explained the accrual accounting system, which will be implemented on Jan 1 next year at the Federal level and Jan 1, 2016 at State level."The system will definitely bring a big change, which is from the current cash basis of accounting towards accrual accounting commonly practiced in corporate business," he said during the Bicara Perdana Programme at Sabah Intan Campus here, Tuesday.
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The accrual accounting system, he said, will allow the people to be aware of the government's balance sheet in terms of asset position and the government's liability in a period of time.The government's transactions through its current cash basis accounting system, especially installment payments, are not recorded, Nur Jazlan explained.
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Instead, these transactions will only be recorded when cash payments are made. "All government assets are now being recorded and its value appraised," he said.He explained that the value of some assets are easier to be determined while others such as the nation's forest reserves could not be easily determined.This is because on record the forest acreage is huge but when it is audited, its value decreases.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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