Dec. 17 (Asia Today) -- South Korea's Board of Audit and Inspection said it has revised internal rules to end what it calls "policy audits," meaning it will no longer review major government policy decisions unless there are allegations of illegal acts or corruption.
The audit agency said Wednesday it implemented revised "Audit Affairs Processing Rules" on Dec. 12 after the Board of Audit and Inspection Committee approved the changes at a Dec. 3 meeting.
Under the revision, audits will exclude areas such as factual judgments used as the basis for policy decisions, errors in data or information, the appropriateness of means used to achieve policy goals, the legality of the policy decision process and procedural compliance, according to the agency.
The Board said it has narrowed the scope of audit findings to illegal and corrupt acts where corrective action is essential. It said it will focus on its core duties of accounting audits and duty inspections under the Constitution and the Board of Audit and Inspection Act, while seeking to avoid controversy over audits that could dampen public-sector morale.
Some critics said the changes could weaken oversight by limiting scrutiny of misjudgments or distorted data that may not rise to criminality but can still result in major financial losses or social costs.
