Overview

A Leader in Transforming Public Sector Finance

The Accountant-General’s Department (AGD) is a department under the Ministry of Finance (MOF). We support the Accountant-General in fulfilling his statutory duties under the Constitution, the Financial Procedure Act and other legislative statutes. We partner with MOF in making Singapore a better place through finance and closely cooperate with Government agencies to raise the capabilities of financial management in the Public Sector.

Statutory Duties of Accountant-General

The statutory duties of the Accountant-General as specified under the Constitution and various statutes are as follows:

• Inform the President of any proposed transaction that would likely draw on the reserves of the Government (Constitution, Article 148G).

• Responsible for the supervision and administration of the Government accounting system. The duties associated with this role include:
  • Prepare annual Government Financial Statements for Minister’s presentation to Parliament and President (Financial Regulations, Regulation 28)
  • Administer and make payments of public monies (Financial Procedure Act, Section 2B)
  • Set procedures for the purchase, custody and disposal of public property (Financial Procedure Act, Section 2B)
  • Report material financial irregularities (Financial Regulations 4)
• Establish accounting standards for Statutory Boards such that the accounts and financial statements of every statutory body is in compliance with the standards (Accounting Standards Act, Section 11).

Strategic Outcomes

We seek to fulfil the following strategic outcomes:

Effective and efficient use of resources

We ensure that Government’s resources are used effectively through our financial policies and value-for-money reviews; we benchmark our resource management framework with the leading jurisdictions and strive to learn from the best practices. We monitor and report Singapore’s reserves position, fulfilling the Accountant-General’s statutory duty to safeguard reserves.

Fiscal sustainability

Even as the Government pledges to take better care of Singaporeans through greater social outlays, it is imperative that we continue to promote the fiscal sustainability of Singapore. We seek to engender a culture of prudence within the public sector while meeting the increasing expectations of the public.

Accountability for performance

We perform financial management reporting and analysis to ensure that Government agencies are held accountable, using efficient data analytics to aid management in its decision-making processes.

Government in time for the future

As a future-ready organisation, AGD seeks to embrace new knowledge and technology to keep abreast of the latest trends in innovation and achieve transformation. With tighter integration of Government financial systems, the whole financial process is now made more seamless. Government systems have also on-boarded InvoiceNow, the nationwide e-invoicing network, to receive e-invoices from vendors in a touchless manner.