The Office of the Director of Audit is established by the Constitution. Its independence exists to the extent that the office is not part of any ministry or the Legislature and the Director of Audit is appointed by the Governor General upon the advice of the Public Service Commission (P.S.C).
The independence of the office is also established under Section 6(1) of the Audit Act no. 26 of 1988 which states that the Director of Audit shall not be under the control or direction of any other person or authority when exercising her functions.
The independence of the office is however limited to the extent that it does not have the freedom or authority to acquire the human and technical resources that is needed to effectively fulfill its mandate. All staff appointments are made by the Public Service Commission whether they are based upon her recommendations or not. The office also does not have direct control over the acquisition of its own technological resources since like any other ministry of the Public Service, the office has to submit a request to the Ministry of Finance when there is a need to acquire furniture and equipment.
In keeping with its madate, the office generally conduct audits of the following:
Under Sections 13 and 14 of the Audit, Act, the Director of Audit has free access to information from the auditees upon request. She also has the authority to be stationed at the auditee if she so desires to carry out her duties effectively.
In addition to the annual report on the Government accounts which she is required to submit to the Minister of Finance for transmission to the House of Assembly each year, the Director of Audit could also submit a special report to the Minister on any matter of importance or urgency that in her opinion should not be deferred until the presentation of the annual report as stipulated under Section 8(1) of the Audit Act
In its efforts to fulfill its mandate, the office conducts the following types of audits:
In doing so, the office is guided by the INTOSAI Auditing Standards which it has formally adopted, as well as Standards from other sources such as; the International Standards on Auditing issued by the International Federation of Accountants, Government Auditing Standards (GAS) issued by the General Accounting Office (GAO) in the United States of America, the Comprehensive Audit Manual (CAM) issued by the Canadian Comprehensive Auditing Foundation (CCAF) and the Office of the Auditor General of Canada, and other operating manuals by donor agencies who have funded various projects implemented by the Government of Saint Lucia. The annual report and all other reports which contain matters of significance that should be brought to the attention of the House of Assembly becomes a public document once they are laid before the House.
The office is constituted as an Audit Office with monocratic status with a Director of Audit.
To ensure that the office fulfills its mandate efficiently and effectively, the office is divided into the following three branches:
It is the policy of the office to recruit only suitable qualified staff to the office. Therefore, when recruiting staff, the benchmark qualifications established by the Ministry of Personnel for the various post in the Public Service are considered together with any designation which the applicants may possess.
In its effort to develop and train employees, the office conducts a bi-annual training programme in skills needed by staff each year. To enable staff to perform their tasks effectively, the office has also established and maintains a set of policies and procedures regarding the audit techniques and methodologies to be used for the various audits that it undertakes. These policies and procedures are outlined in the Office's Audit Manual.