National Development Finance Agency Act, 2002
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Accounts and audits. |
20.—(1) The Agency shall keep, in such form as may be determined by the Minister, all proper and usual accounts of moneys received by it or expended by it and of all financial and other transactions undertaken in the performance of its functions. The accounts shall include a separate account of the administration fees and expenses incurred by the Agency in the performance of its functions. | |
(2) Accounts prepared in pursuance of this section shall include details of all borrowing and fundraising by the Agency and their transfer to individual projects. In particular— | ||
(a) a schedule of all loans and bonds raised by the Agency, | ||
(b) a schedule of all repayments of loans by State authorities to the Agency on foot of repayable advances, | ||
(c) a schedule of all advances of moneys by the Minister under section 10 (1), | ||
(d) a schedule of all advances of moneys by the Agency under sections 3(1)(b) and 10(2), and | ||
(e) a schedule of all property transferred, conveyed or assigned to a company formed under section 5 in accordance with section 9 , | ||
shall be presented in the annual accounts of the Agency and in the Finance Accounts. | ||
(3) Accounts kept in pursuance of this section, signed by the Chief Executive Officer and the Chairperson, shall be formally adopted by the Board and shall be submitted as soon as may be, but not later than 4 months after the end of the financial year to which they relate, by the Agency to the Comptroller and Auditor General for audit. A copy of the accounts as so audited shall be presented to the Minister as soon as may be and the Minister shall cause a copy of the accounts as so audited to be laid before each House of the Oireachtas. | ||
(4) The audited accounts prepared under this section shall note a record of expenses incurred by the Agency. | ||
(5) (a) The audited accounts prepared under section 12 of the National Treasury Management Agency Act, 1990 , shall note a record of expenses incurred by the National Treasury Management Agency in the exercise of its functions under this Act. | ||
(b) The National Treasury Management Agency Act, 1990 , is amended by inserting the following after section 12(3): | ||
“(4) The audited accounts prepared in pursuance of this section shall note a record of expenses incurred by the Agency in the performance of any functions under the National Development Finance Agency Act, 2002.”. | ||
(6) The Chief Executive Officer and the Chairperson shall, whenever required by the Committee of Public Accounts, give evidence to that Committee on— | ||
(a) the regularity and propriety of the transactions recorded or required to be recorded in any book or other record or account subject to audit by the Comptroller and Auditor General which the Agency is required by or under statute to prepare, | ||
(b) the economy and efficiency of the Agency in the use of the resources made available to it under this Act, | ||
(c) the systems, procedures and practices employed by the Agency for the purposes of evaluating the effectiveness of its operations, and | ||
(d) any matter affecting the Agency referred to in a special report of the Comptroller and Auditor General under section 11 (2) of the Comptroller and Auditor General (Amendment) Act, 1993 , or in any other report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (in so far as it relates to a matter specified in paragraph (a), (b) or (c)) that is laid before Dáil Éireann. | ||
(7) The Chief Executive Officer and the Chairperson, if required under subsection (6) to give evidence, shall not— | ||
(a) question or express an opinion on the merits of any policy of the Government or a Minister of the Government or the Attorney General or on the merits of the objectives of such a policy, or | ||
(b) produce or send to a committee a specified document in which the Chief Executive Officer or the Chairperson questions or expresses an opinion on the merits of any such policy or such objectives. |