Governments can be made more accountable and transparent and forced to combat corruption through the use of the close scrutiny of the Auditor General's office.

This was the message to more than 40 auditors from the Caribbean region, Miami and Bermuda and about 20 local delegates to the Sixth Congress of the Caribbean Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions (CAROSAI).

"Corruption is a global problem affecting both industrialised and developing countries," said Adrian Strachan, the Auditor General of Jamaica. "It has surfaced in all forms of government and in all spheres of society.

"Corruption inhibits private investment, distorts public investment, slows growth and worsens poverty. It results in the waste of resources and reduces the quality of life."

And he said there appeared to be a strong correlation between the level of corruption and the weakening of the lawful state and its institutions along with the violation of an individual's rights.

"It is therefore quite obvious that corruption represents a clear and present danger," he said. "We therefore have a strong and vested interest in trying to bring it under control."

The CAROSAI conference, which runs from August 11 to 15, has as its theme "Promoting Good Governance" and a day was spent speaking about preventing corruption and fraud and the role auditors generals' offices could play in achieving this.

The Auditor of Antigua and Barbuda, Arah Armstrong, said in a paper presented to the conference that it was difficult to detect corruption.

"The auditor cannot do much," he said. "At times corruption is suspected, however, seldom is there enough evidence to report with certainty that the act has taken place."

And he said that corruption had to be fought with the aid of the police whose duty it was to investigate cases of suspected fraud, irregularity and corruption. The director of public prosecution and the financial services regulatory authority would also have to be included in tools in the fight against corruption.

And he said that his office has a role to play to "endeavour to create an environment that is unfavourable to corruption so as to promote good governance."

Mr. Armstrong said he wanted to see a more holistic approach where all the established institutions in the fight against corruption came together and complimented each other to create one main strategy.

Terrance Bastian, the Auditor General of the Bahamas, said in his written report; "This task of preventing corruption can be a very difficult one as the nature of auditing is examining records and information after the fact.

"However there are some auditing standards and guidelines which if followed can help in the detection and possible future prevention of corruption."

Mr. Strachan, who presented the main paper on prevention corruption said that in certain quarters it was now being proposed that auditors should play a more direct role in identifying those suspected of committing fraud.

"Some suggest that supreme audit institutions (SAI) should conduct forensic audits aimed at obtaining the evidence necessary to secure the successful prosecution of suspects. Others go as far as suggesting that the SAI should be in the forefront in prosecuting the cases against those charged for fraud."

And he said that some bodies were now doing this but only in places where the mandates of the SAIs required them to do it, but most mandates, including those of CAROSAI did not require them to do so.

He said in Jamaica the SAI is not authorised to refer matters to the police, and had to go to their Ministry of Finance, who then referred the matter to the Director of Public Prosecutions which is charged with bringing all charges of fraud and corruption before the courts and prosecuting these cases.

Mr. Strachan said that members might want to consider assessing the performance of other agencies involved in the fight against corruption as part of their "value for money" work.

And he said that they should look at whether they should attempt to duplicate or take over the duties assigned to these agencies. The UK's Comptroller and Auditor General, Sir John Bourn, when asked how SAIs can improve transparency and accountability, he said: "What can be done is in the reports they issue - which we collectively think should be independent reports that are published, available to the members of parliament, to the media and the people at large - that these reports should be published as soon as they are completed, they should deal with real issues concerning the proper handling of money, they should contain analysis and where appropriate and advice as to how public services can be provided more usefully.

"The auditor in both the public sector and in the private sector is somebody who is not part of executive management, but wants the client to succeed and whether the auditor of a company or the auditor of a government department, you want the work that you do to make a contribution to the improvement in services to the public and to do it in an open way, so that everyone can see what the auditor general has said and why he or she has said it and what the recommendations are."