Accounts and audits

(1) The Commission shall keep proper books of account of its income and other receipts and expenditures during each financial year, and shall also cause a statement of its accounts for each financial year to be prepared within three months after the end of that year, in a form which conforms to the best commercial and accounting standards. (2) The accounts of the Commission for each financial year shall be audited and certified by an auditor to be appointed annually by the Commission. 28 (3) The auditor of the Commission shall be a person entitled to practice in Belize under the provisions of the Accountancy Profession Act. CAP. 305. (4) The auditor shall, with reference to the accounts of the Commission, include in the report– (a) whether he has obtained all the information and explanations which to the best of his knowledge and belief were necessary for the purposes of the audit; (b) whether, in his opinion, proper books of account have been kept by the Commission; (c) whether the Commission’s balance sheet and accounts dealt with by the report are in agreement with the books of account; (d) whether in his opinion and to the best of his information and according to the explanations given to him, the said accounts give a true and fair view, in the case of the balance sheet of the Commission’s finances as at the end of the financial year and in the case of the income and expenditure account, of the surplus or deficit for that financial year; and (e) whether in his opinion the Commission has discharged with diligence its obligations in relation to the collection of its revenues. (5) Within three months after the end of the audit of its accounts for any financial year, the Commission shall prepare and submit to the Minister a written report of its operations for that year together with a copy of the audited accounts for that year and the Minister shall lay a copy of such report and of the audited accounts on the table of the House of Representatives at the earliest possible opportunity.