Governments have to be constantly watched and laws often changed to ensure corruption does not set in, auditors general from the Caribbean and Bermuda heard this week.

Annual auditors' reports in all these nations should also be published in the media and on the Internet to raise awareness of corrupt behaviour and practices in governments.

This is according to Martha Griffith, Deputy Director of Audit in St. Lucia and Montserrat, as part of a paper presented to the Sixth Congress of the Caribbean Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions (CAROSAI).

And she said governments across the region should change the way they do their budgeting so that they can become more accountable and it is easier to measure the way they have performed.

"Oversight legislation are designed to ensure that the executive branch, its agents and persons holding public trust are held accountable to the electorate," said Ms Griffith.

"Good governance requires constant vigilance and continuing innovation to keep potentially corrupt actors within the constraints of accountability."

In her paper "Promoting Good Governance and Greater Public Accountability through effective Legislative Audits", she said that CAROSAI members should encourage governments to move away from the preparation of cash-based accounts to providing accruals-based accounts.

And she added that performance indicators should be encouraged as a way of assessing the usefulness of services as well as the projects and programmes being undertaken by a government.

Ms Griffith said that Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) should "encourage governments to move away from the preparation and submission of cash-based accounts to providing accruals-based accounts.

Accrual accounts will provide information that will enable the analyst to measure performance of an entity and allow a more comprehensive assessment of the cost of government programmes".

And she said that performance indicators will "give stakeholders the opportunity to independently assess the usefulness of the services offered and projects and programmes being undertaken by government".

Ms Griffith said that staff training and joint training sessions were key in order to do their jobs better.

And she said that the annual auditor's report should be produced on a timely basis and a draft copy of the audit report should be submitted to the auditees senior management for comments.

Ms Griffith said that audit committees should be encouraged and the public accounts committee encouraged to have frequent meetings with accounting officers to discuss the findings in the auditor general's report.

"The (audit) committee should play a more active role in encouraging good governance," she said. "There is the opinion that requiring persons to defend actions long after the deed was perpetuated is an exercise in futility.

"Hence, giving this committee responsibility to review and request responses to the management letters/reports sent to the various Ministries/Departments may better serve the public interest."

And she said that the report on the public accounts committee meeting with accounting officers should be tabled in parliament within a reasonable time.

She said: "The report, highlighting non-compliance with legislative directives, should be published in the media, electronic and print, and on the Internet. Publicising the issues in this manner will raise the visibility of corrupt behaviours and practices.

"Such exposure coupled with pressures from press and civil society can lead to reform."