Introduction
The Provincial Appropriation Audits Directorate (PAAD) is one of the five (5) directorates in the Audits and Consultancy Division in the Office of the Auditor General. The directorate is headed by a Director who is based at the Headquarters in Lusaka. The Director is assisted by nine Assistant Directors in the nine (9) Provinces. The Directorate has a provision forthirty-six (36) District Audit Offices through out the country. These offices should be opened by December 2007 with an establishment of five officers; a Senior Auditor and four Auditors.

The spreading out of audit offices from Provincial to District levels is in line with the Government's Policy on Decentralisation. The Decentralisation Policy entails that all Project activities designed to help communities are implemented at those levels. The presence of the Office of the Auditor General at District level is as such appropriate and will help provided checks and balances in the accountability process right from were the moneys are being expended.

Types of Audits
The Government of the Republic of Zambia (GRZ) and the donors provide funds to provinces and districts with operating/spending instructions attached. These, together with laid down rules and regulations should be adhered to when spending the funds. To that end the provincial appropriations audits directorate comes in handy to audit these funds. The kinds of audits which they carry out are the regularity/Compliance Audits. These audits are undertaken to confirm that the funds were spent according to the laid down rules and regulations and other instructions of spending. These audits help to ensure that the purpose for which the funds were appropriated for by Parliament or indeed the donors are complied with.

Functions
The Directorate is responsibleforthefollowing:

• To audit the accounts relating to expenditure of the moneys appropriated by Parliament to all Provincial Administration Offices or Provincial Accounting Control Units (PACUs);
• To audit all donor funded projects at provincial and district levels;
• To audit the Accounts of Local Authorities
• To audit District Development Funds, Constituency Development   Funds   (CDFs)   and   Quasi-Governmental Organisations.