Irregularities, Frauds and the Necessity of Technical Auditing in Construction Industry

The Author is a Chartered Surveyor and Arbitrator and has been in the Quantity Surveying field for the last 40 years. The book deals with construction irregularities ,frauds and the necessity for Technical Auditing of construction projects. The construction industry is huge expanding and expected to reach in excess of US $ 12 Trillion by 2020. The bulk of this amounts shall come from emerging markets and from public money. Still Construction Auditing is practically performed by Accountants in all parts of the world. The Author feels that this should be done by Engineers with proper training and accreditation.Further,the Author feels that there is a necessity to spend at least one dollar for auditing for every thousand dollars spent to see whether the money is spent wisely.This is very important in case of public money. The construction industry as a whole is infested with irregularities and frauds and so much so that the estimated loss is around 10%,which shall reach in excess of US $ one Trillion by 2020.To put in context, the combined GDPs of Saudi Arabia and South Africa. If the existing internal and external auditing system does not bring in 0.5%(1/20 of the estimated waste) as savings on a regular basis,then it can be safely assumed that the system needs modifications or complete overhaul. The book deals with basic guide lines for Technical Auditing of construction to bring in savings.This also gives a set of proposals for future improvements of the existing system and the same can be used in developing counries or modified to suit each countrys requirements.