The Office of the Director of Audit is the Supreme Audit Institution (SAI) of St. Vincent and the Grenadines.  Prior to its establishment, as early as the 1930s, the authority for auditing the public accounts of St. Vincent; and the reporting framework, like the other Windward Islands (Dominica, Grenada and St. Lucia), had resided with the Colonial Audit Department in England. 

The Colonial Audit Department was comprised of an Overseas Audit Service which was commanded by a Director General, and a Principal Auditor of the Windward Islands whose office was located in Grenada.  The Principal Auditor was responsible for auditing the accounts of St. Vincent in accordance with Colonial Regulations and Instructions from the Colonial Audit Department.  Instruction No. 39 of Colonial Audit Department mandated that the Principal Auditor, audit and report on the accounts of the Colony of St. Vincent and submit one copy of report to His Excellency the Governor of the Windward Islands.  Colonial Regulations 267 required that two copies of the report be submitted to His Excellency for transmission to the Secretary of State and one copy be transmitted to the Administrator of St. Vincent, to enable it to be laid on the table of Legislative Council.

On the attainment of Statehood in 1969, the St. Vincent Constitution Order 1969 was enacted; and established the Office of the Director of Audit as an independent public office.  Its existence is affirmed by section 75 (1) of the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Constitution Order 1979, while section 75 (2) outlines the mandate of the Director of Audit.  This mandate stipulates the need to provide assurance to Parliament, on the stewardship by Government in its management of public funds and resources of St. Vincent and the Grenadines.  Therefore, the Office is responsible to audit the public accounts and report annually to Parliament. 

In 2009, the new Audit Act 29/2005 was enacted.  The enactment provided a broader mandate for the Office to conduct financial audits of Statutory Bodies, ensure that public entities use resources with due regards to economy, efficiency and effectiveness and apply international standards in the execution of audits.  This necessitated additional resources and innovative ways of conducting our work.

Since the introduction of the Audit Act, some response initiatives undertaken were the restructuring of the Office; provision of training in Financial and Performance Audits to two (2) core groups of auditors, the adoption and implementation of International Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI) Standards, International Standards of Supreme Audit Institutions (ISSAIs) in our work, to achieve greater efficiency.  The development of the Auditors in these areas of auditing, affirms the Office’s commitment to fulfill its mandate. 

To further enhance our audit products, Follow-up, which is the final component of the audit cycle and a requirement of the International Standards, was introduced in 2019.   Follow-up review is critical to determine the adequacy, effectiveness and timeliness of actions taken by management to implement recommendations issued to correct reported deviations at the audited entities.  The implementation of audit recommendations helps management to improve the performance and accountability of the entities. 

As our SAI moves towards enhancing our effectiveness, increased engagement with   stakeholders assumes greater importance.