malaysiang
KUALA LUMPUR: The Auditor-General has been empowered to conduct audits on the accounts of 1,856 other companies, including government-linked companies (GLCs), effective as of yesterday. The National Audit Department, in a statement uploaded on its Facebook page today, stated that this authority is based on the Audit Order (Accounts of Other Entities) (Amendment) 2024 [P.U.(A) 331/2024], which was gazetted on October 31 after receiving the consent of His Majesty the King of Malaysia.
According to BERNAMA News Agency, the number of entities that fall under the audit scope more than doubled from the total of 925 other bodies, including companies, that were gazetted in 2022. The National Audit Department is currently developing guidelines concerning the implementation of the auditing process for GLCs. This initiative is aligned with the provisions under Section 7A of the Audit Act 1957 [Act 62], which grants the Auditor-General the authority to issue necessary guidelines or make adjustments to carry out the allo
cation under Act 62.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, while tabling Budget 2025 on October 18, announced that the National Audit Department has been given an expanded role to initiate audits of nearly 2,000 companies and entities receiving government allocations and guarantees. Subsequently, on October 22, during the Prime Minister’s Question And Answer session in Parliament, he announced that the government has agreed for the Auditor-General to conduct audits of GLCs. This measure aims to ensure that government companies are managed according to their intended mandate, particularly focusing on the economic wellbeing of the people.
