International Journal of Government Auditing – January 2012
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by Averil James-Bonnette, Secretary General of CAROSAI, and Alaistair Swarbrick, Auditor General of the Cayman Islands and Chair of the CAROSAI Institutional Strengthening Committee |
The 21 members of the Caribbean Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (CAROSAI) carry out their mandates against the background of rapidly changing environments and emerging accountability issues. Many face tremendous challenges in the areas of legislation and mandates, operations, budgets, methodologies, inactive Public Accounts Committees (PAC), and the failure to be recognized as fully independent organizations within the governance modality. Additional challenges arise in the CAROSAI region from the small size of the countries and their limited human and institutional capacities.
A brief look at the Cayman Islands, one of the CAROSAI members, will illustrate the broader issues facing governments and SAIs in the region. A British overseas territory with an area of only 151 square kilometers and a population of 55,700 in 2009, the Cayman Islands is one of the wealthier countries in the Caribbean. It has the world’s largest offshore banking sector and reported real GDP per capita of $42,605 in 2010.
However, the Cayman Islands’ government operations—and related governance, transparency, and accountability issues—have not kept pace with its wealth, GDP per capita, and status as a developed nation. The Office of the Auditor General (OAG) of the Cayman Islands experiences the same challenges as its counterparts in the less developed nations of the Caribbean. These challenges include the following.
- Operational and financial independence: While the Auditor General of the Cayman Islands has constitutional independence, in reality the government controls the financial resources and the appointment of staff. The Ministry of Finance sets the OAG’s budget. The Auditor General must seek approval for contract renewals, pay rates, and any new staff from the head of the civil service. Thus, the OAG is technically part of core government.