The Specialised Audits and Consultancy Directorate is one of the five (5) directorates under the Audits and Consultancy Division in the Office of the Auditor General.

Structure of the Directorate
This directorate was established in response to the need to improve service delivery in the public sector; maximize value for money in the use of public resources; safeguard public assets; and act as deterrence to fraud and corruption. The directorate is headed by a Director who is assisted by four deputy Directors in charge of Performance and Environmental Audits; Forensic Audits and Investigations; Information Systems Audits; and Consultancy Services. The staff establishment for the Directorate is twenty one (21).

Performance and Environmental Audits
This section carries out performance (value for money) and environmental audits. As this concept is new to Office of the Auditor General, significant resources are being committed to capacity building. The officers also participate in specialist training offered by African Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions- English speaking countries (AFROSAI-E) and the International Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI) Work Group on Environmental Audits (WGEA).

Forensic and Investigative Audits
This section carries out forensic audits and investigations. In recognition of fraud, corruption and other irregularities in the public sector and that this state of affairs is detrimental to sustainable economic development, the Office of the Auditor General has included in its structure this section. In order to strengthen this section, officers participate in regional seminars on various topical issues such as Money Laundering and Cyber Crime/Fraud.

information Technology (IT) Audits
This section carries out information systems audits in the Government Ministries, Provinces and other Spending Agencies (MPSAs). The main objective is to provide independent IT assurance through the identification of risks presented by the adoption and use of new and emerging technologies within the OAG clientele, in particular whether:

• Business Applications have adequate and relevant internal controls
• Networks are secure
• A balance is achieved between business re-engineering and controls
• IT security policies are up to date and there is IT security awareness and preparedness for business continuity
• Value for money on IT investments.

The section also conducts post-implementation reviews of IT projects to ascertain whether new systems meet user processing needs, are delivered to budget and yield desirable improvements in public service delivery.

Consultancy Services
There has been an increasing demand for the Office of the Auditor General to assist some clients in putting in place or improving their accounting systems. The section's mission is to assist Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and other institutions in the provision of accountancy services and accounting systems analysis and design. The section, which is not staffed as of now is, however, expected to be operational soon.

Our Clientele
Our clients span all the Ministries, Provinces and other Spending Agencies. Some of our key clients that we were able to audit/assist since the directorate became operational in May 2005 include:

• IFMIS Project Ministry of Finance and National Planning
• African Union - Financial audit
• SADC- Financial audit/ Closure audits
• Central Board of Health (CBOH) - Closure audits
• Kafubu Water and Sewerage Co. - Performance audit
• Lusaka Water and Sewerage Co.- Performance audit
• Nkana Water and Sewerage Co.- Performance audit
• Mulonga Water and Sewerage Co.- Performance audit