LAHORE - The government has recovered Rs 43 billion embezzled money from different departments within last two years, on the identification of the auditor general reports, while the past five-years recovered money mounts to Rs 60 billion. This was stated by Deputy Auditor General of Pakistan Usman Khan while addressing a 'Conference on Public Sector Accounting in Pakistan organized by the Institute of Cost and Management Accountants of Pakistan (ICMAP). He said that the audit report 2009-10 has been submitted to the President of Pakistan while a copy of it has also been sent to the National Aseemblys Public Account Committee for further action. He said that following the audit reports only Rs 2 to 3 billion used to recover every year but now the trend has changed and government made recovery of Rs 24 billion this year while the last year recovery figure marked Rs 19 billion. Usman Khan said that the Department of the Auditor General remained traditionally responsible for both Accounting and Auditing in public sector till 2001, when the Accounting and Audit functions were separated through creation of a separate organization for maintenance of accounts of the Federal, Provincial and District Governments, known as Controller General of Accounts (CGA).The Auditor General now performs audit function besides prescribing principles and methods of maintaining accounts as per his constitutional mandate. The segregation not only removed conflict of interest situation but also facilitated transparency and independence of both functions. Punjab Law Minister Mr. Rana Sanaullah in his address said the province is ready to take over departments, which would come under its control after the removal of the concurrent list under the 18th amendment. Pakistan has long been experiencing recessionary trends. Our cash strapped position caused by massive national debt has kept our economy at very low ebb. By increasing revenues and exports we could have salvaged the position, but things have never gone the way we have been planning. The ground reality is that we usually find it difficult to generate enough revenue and increase exports whereas the expenditure position has all along been getting inflated due to inflationary trends, he stated. He said the government is alive to the deteriorating state of affairs and is in the process of taking a number of measures to put our financial and fiscal house in order. After the seminar talking to the media Punjab law minister Rana Sanaullah said that the PML-N is not frightened with the PPP and the PML-Q alliance. He criticized the last days uproar of the opposition in the Punjab Assembly, however saidthe N-League will response in a civilized manner. He urged both the parties to play role of real opposition and punjab govt will support them if they do that. as far as the address of the president to joint parliament is concerned, he said, the PML-N would follow the parliamentary tradition. He lamented that the PPP has join hands with the PML-Q which has grown up under the dictatorship. Mr. Muhammad Rafi appreciate that CPD & Seminar committee of ICMAP always strive hard to equip our members with the latest developments in the profession. On the same lines we have organized our todays conference, in which number of learned speakers will deliberate on Public Sector Mr. Hasan A. Bilgrami President, ICMAP & President Bankislami said Pakistan On behalf of Institute of Cost and Management Accountants of Pakistan I would like to welcome you all in this very important Conference on Public Sector Accounting in Pakistan. Over the years ICMAP has been organizing seminars and conferences on crucial national and international issues. I am delighted that this year our CPD, Seminars and Conferences Committee has chosen the topic of Conference on Public Sector Accounting in Pakistan Let me begin with a brief introduction of our Institute. The Late Muhammad Shoaib established the Institute of Cost & Management Accountants of Pakistan in 1951. Over a period of 61 years, the ICMAP has been meeting a national human resource needs through a steady flow of professional Management Accountants. The permanence conduct of seminars, conferences and workshops has shown Institutions commitment towards achieving excellence. The Institute is well aware of challenges faced by the competitive and demanding business world and equipping and training professionals to meet these challenges with full accuracy and efficiency. ICMAP has over 3700 members, who hold senior positions in trade, commerce, industry and government in Pakistan and abroad. Mr. Hanif Ajari Presented the paper In response to pressure from both citizens and elected officials to demonstrate their effectiveness and efficiency in delivering value, public service organizations globally are mandated to increase their focus on performance management. Across Europe for example, the EU has put increased pressure on government departments and public sector agencies to perform better. In the UK, in July 2008, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury launched the Operational Efficiency Program me, a key part of the governments drive to achieve greater efficiency in public spending. A report presented in April 2009 encouraged the government to emulate the private sector in seeking greater efficiencies in the way that it purchases and provides services. One of the findings highlighted was the need to build upon existing forms of accountability and introduce measures to improve performance management so that they are underpinned by good data and information, lead to legitimate challenge to those who are underperforming; and are taken seriously by senior stakeholders. Simultaneously, the UK Government has set a series of cross-departmental objectives called PSAs-public service agreements and France has passed Legislation related directly to President Sarkozys overall transformation agenda that requires budget allocations to be based on agency performance. Guest Speaker Institute of Cost and Management Accountants of Pakistan (ICMAP) Sajjad Ahmad said Pakistans tax setup was more pro-rich than pro-poor. Resultantly, the rich paid less tax than they should and poor were compelled to pay taxes in spite of the fact that they had a very low capacity to pay. Shahzad Ahmad Awan and Mirza Munawar Hussain presented the paper on this occasion.