HEADLINES

JAKARTA, BPK Public Relations - The Audit Board of the Republic of Indonesia (BPK) had succeeded to finalize its tasks in auditing the 2019 financial statements of Banten Province amidst the Covid-19 pandemic. It was then followed by the handover of the audit report to Banten local government during the Plenary Session of Banten Provincial Regional House of Representatives (DPRD) on Thursday. For the first time in history, the handover was conducted online via video conference. It was the BPK Board Member V, Bahrullah Akbar, who delivered the report from his residence in Jakarta.

The Plenary Session chaired by the Speaker of Banten DPRD, Andra Soni, was attended by among others Vice Speaker and Members of the Banten DPRD, Banten Governor, Wahidin Halim, officials and staff of Banten local government. The Head of BPK Regional Office in Banten Province, Agus Khotib, was also present during the video conference.

In his speech, the BPK Board Member said the audit on local government financial statements was part of BPK's constitutional duties. Article 17 of Law Number 15 Year 2004 required the BPK to submit the audit report to Parliament and leader of the audit entity accordingly.

"Having been audited and handed over by the BPK, the audited financial statements will proceed to be a draft of local government regulation on the accountability of the local government budget", the Board Member said.

He further stated that based on the audit results, including the evaluation on the implementation of the action plan, the BPK gave unqualified opinion for the financial statements of the Banten Province Fiscal Year 2019. It shows that the local government of Banten is committed to continue to encourage improvements in their financial management. The Board Member also said that there were still some rooms for improvements, such as in the scope of internal control system, compliances with Laws and regulations, and those related to performance of the pre-disaster management.

"We have presented all audit findings in the audit report section II regarding the internal control system, section III regarding the compliance with Laws and regulations, and performance audit report on the effectiveness of the pre-disaster management Fiscal Year 2019", he explained.

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Closing his remarks, he hoped that the Banten Regional House of Representatives could actively monitor the completion of the follow up of audit recommendations. According to the Law, the result of the follow up must be submitted to the BPK no later than 60 days after receiving the audit report.