New Delhi: Citizens have been the main beneficiaries of audit governance and transparency in governments across the world, CAG Girish Chandra Murmu said on Monday. He was speaking after inaugurating the 3rd Conference of Supreme Audit Leaders (SAI) of BRICS countries here on the theme of 'Citizen Engagement in public sector audit.' The Comptroller and Auditor General of India said that while each nation has its own unique setting to deliver its accountability mandate, SAIs need to increasingly engage external stakeholders to build greater trust and credibility, as per an official statement.

However, SAIs need to test the information provided by citizens and civil society organisations with other information sources as well as audit team's understanding of the auditee's operating environments for objectivity and quality, he said.

Citizen engagement in public sector audit required: CAG

Also, in the interest of transparency, SAIs must disclose the level of involvement by civil society in an audit, the CAG added.

"SAIs across the world have acknowledged citizens as key beneficiaries of their work and have engaged with them at various levels, depending on their unique country contexts, in delivering their accountability mandate," Murmu said.

He stressed that citizen engagement in public sector audit could guide SAIs in identifying high-risk areas of possible mismanagement and inefficiencies in governance, thereby improving focus and effectiveness of our audit effort.

The meeting concluded with the adoption of the New Delhi Declaration by the SAIs of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

As part of the New Delhi Declaration and work plan for 2023-2024, BRICS SAIs would organise seminars/webinars on diverse topics such as real-time audit, audit of large infrastructure projects, audit of cyber security and data protection challenges.

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