The chairman of Tynwald’s public accounts committee has lamented the failure to appoint an auditor general in the Isle of Man.

Legislation to pave the way for the creation of an auditor-general post - to oversee the management of public funds - became law in 2011, but no one has ever been appointed.

Speaker of the House of Keys and Rushen MHK Juan Watterson, who is chairman of the public accounts committee, spoke out as the island hosted counterparts from around the British Isles, including auditors general from other jurisdictions.

Mr Watterson said: ’It is always a pleasure to showcase the Isle of Man to visitors and talk about the excellent work Tynwald and its committees do with a very small number of staff.

’However, a notable exception to the attendee list was Tynwald’s own auditor general, which has never been appointed.

’There is no doubt that this deficiency is the biggest impediment to the Tynwald PAC having a greater impact in driving value for money throughout the public service.’

The one-day public accounts committee network event saw 40 delegates attending, including heads of PACs, auditors general and audit staff from around the British Isles and the devolved assemblies, as well as representatives from Malta and Ukraine.

Adam Price, a member of the public accounts committee in the National Assembly for Wales said it helped to ’shine a light on accountability in government’.

He added: ’It was useful to be able to drill down in some detail and to share best practice. There was a real free flow of information and opportunities to learn from other jurisdictions and note our similarities and differences.’

There were also delegates from the Institute of Chartered Accountants and the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association at the event, which had the theme ’making an impact’.

Audit director for Audit Scotland Antony Clark said: ’It was a brilliant event where the bigger jurisdictions could learn from the smaller ones and vice versa.

’The sessions highlighted the challenges everyone involved in public accountability faces and what emerged strongly was that while it’s one thing for PACs to make an impact, it’s quite another to be able to demonstrate that impact.’