The Office of the Auditor Generalis mandated to carry out audits of all public institutions in Jamaica. It has been observed that the same observations and recommendations are made each year in the Auditor General's Reports.concerning increased misuse and misapplication of public funds. Following the establishment of new parish councils in some partshes around the country for years ago, there re is concem that the trend of misuse and misapplication of public funds may be experienced in these newly established councils just like is the case with the existing council The Ministry responsible for local government has decided that consultants should be engaged to hold workshops with the controlling officer of the newly established councilsce the importance of transparency and accountability in the use of public funds and the importance of internal control system You work for a consultancy firm that has been engaged to run these workshops and all the new districts around the country. The lead consultant in your fint has asked you to prepare the materials that you will use in these workshops You have been provided with the following information about one of the old parish councils, The main source of funds for this Comcil are the grants received from the central government In addition, the council collects different levies from local businesses operating in the parish The Council maintains financial records and prepares financial statements annually which are subject to adit by the Office of the Auditor General The Comcil has an internal audit department which carries out finuscial audits. Due to understaffing and inexperimced staff, the financial statements for the previous three years have not been sudited by the internal auditors The Council received a grant of USSI2 million for the construction of ton community center, one cach in the ten communities under the control of the Council. This is part of a grant from a donor received by the Ministry. The Council as a sub recipient signed an agreement coming to adhere to the grant condition. The maximut that was supposed to be spent on each center is US$1.2 million but the average cost of cach of five finished constructed centers amounted to US$1.8 million totaling US$9 million. The balance of US$3 millice from the grant was spent on paying salaries to Council employees who were in areas The following information was established concerming the centers constructed 1. Only three of the centers met the design specifications and were going to be commissioned for use. The works on the other two centers were substandard 2. The award of the contract to build the centers was so done through competitive budding Contrary to the grant conditions and agreement Award was through single sourcing and the basis for doing so was that the contractor selected was going to be cheaper because he is based within the district and needed no mobilization funds, A review of the previous working papers of the last audit of this Council revealed that the risk of material statement was assessed to be high During the audit it was established that the control over large volumes of inventory were poor and that there has been no inventory the year-end for many years A. Using respoctive sectices of the lawActs applicable to Jamaica, discuss the roles, function and power of the Office of the Auditor General in carry out its duties for the benefits of the Parish Council and the Jamaican Government. (10 marks) B. Using the information in the rario, explain with the aid of computation and or examples) value for money audit (4 marks) C. Explain four (4) matters that the Office of the Auditor General will consider in deciding the extent of the use of the work of the internal auditees of the Council (4 marks) D. Due to the current state of the Internal Audit department of the Council, the Minister esponsible for Local Government believes that outsourcing its functions instead of maintaining an IA department would yield better results and save on overhead. The lead consultant of your fim asked you to identify and explain (6) avantages and us (6) disadvantages of Centralizing the Internal Audit Functions of the Council, as he believes these will assist the Minister with his final decision (12 marks) The Office of the Auditor Generalis mandated to carry out audits of all public institutions in Jamaica. It has been observed that the same observations and recommendations are made each year in the Auditor General's Reports.concerning increased misuse and misapplication of public funds. Following the establishment of new parish councils in some partshes around the country for years ago, there re is concem that the trend of misuse and misapplication of public funds may be experienced in these newly established councils just like is the case with the existing council The Ministry responsible for local government has decided that consultants should be engaged to hold workshops with the controlling officer of the newly established councilsce the importance of transparency and accountability in the use of public funds and the importance of internal control system You work for a consultancy firm that has been engaged to run these workshops and all the new districts around the country. The lead consultant in your fint has asked you to prepare the materials that you will use in these workshops You have been provided with the following information about one of the old parish councils, The main source of funds for this Comcil are the grants received from the central government In addition, the council collects different levies from local businesses operating in the parish The Council maintains financial records and prepares financial statements annually which are subject to adit by the Office of the Auditor General The Comcil has an internal audit department which carries out finuscial audits. Due to understaffing and inexperimced staff, the financial statements for the previous three years have not been sudited by the internal auditors The Council received a grant of USSI2 million for the construction of ton community center, one cach in the ten communities under the control of the Council. This is part of a grant from a donor received by the Ministry. The Council as a sub recipient signed an agreement coming to adhere to the grant condition. The maximut that was supposed to be spent on each center is US$1.2 million but the average cost of cach of five finished constructed centers amounted to US$1.8 million totaling US$9 million. The balance of US$3 millice from the grant was spent on paying salaries to Council employees who were in areas The following information was established concerming the centers constructed 1. Only three of the centers met the design specifications and were going to be commissioned for use. The works on the other two centers were substandard 2. The award of the contract to build the centers was so done through competitive budding Contrary to the grant conditions and agreement Award was through single sourcing and the basis for doing so was that the contractor selected was going to be cheaper because he is based within the district and needed no mobilization funds, A review of the previous working papers of the last audit of this Council revealed that the risk of material statement was assessed to be high During the audit it was established that the control over large volumes of inventory were poor and that there has been no inventory the year-end for many years A. Using respoctive sectices of the lawActs applicable to Jamaica, discuss the roles, function and power of the Office of the Auditor General in carry out its duties for the benefits of the Parish Council and the Jamaican Government. (10 marks) B. Using the information in the rario, explain with the aid of computation and or examples) value for money audit (4 marks) C. Explain four (4) matters that the Office of the Auditor General will consider in deciding the extent of the use of the work of the internal auditees of the Council (4 marks) D. Due to the current state of the Internal Audit department of the Council, the Minister esponsible for Local Government believes that outsourcing its functions instead of maintaining an IA department would yield better results and save on overhead. The lead consultant of your fim asked you to identify and explain (6) avantages and us (6) disadvantages of Centralizing the Internal Audit Functions of the Council, as he believes these will assist the Minister with his final decision (12 marks)