The Commission of Audit carried out an audit on the management and remuneration of secretaries in the public administrative departments of the Macao Special Administrative Region from the end of year 2002 to the beginning of year 2003. The audited subject included 65 public administrative departments of the Macao Special Administrative Region. The major findings of the audit are as follows:

. About MOP 6.88 million was paid as fixed monetary compensation to the secretaries in year 2001, while the fixed monetary compensation paid to the secretaries in the first 10 months of year 2002 was approximately MOP 6.71 million.

. As legal regulations only set applicable principles, different departments do not have unified standard for the monetary compensation to the secretaries due to a lack of standard guidance.

. Most of the departments do not have a review mechanism to the appointment of secretarial duties, and consequently they cannot make reasonable assessment on the current appointment and cannot re-allocate human resources more effectively.

. After measuring according to the auditing criteria of the Commission of Audit, it is found that among the departments which adopt a fixed compensation system, the cost-benefit ratios of 29 departments are relatively low.

. After measuring according to the auditing criteria of the Commission of Audit, among the personnel taking up the secretarial duties, only 22% possess satisfactory personal qualification.

. 4 departments have paid extra overtime compensation to the personnel who have received fixed compensation.

. A few departments have appointed personnel who possessed qualifications exceeding grade 5 to grade 7 as stipulated in legal regulations to take up secretarial duties,

Based on the abovementioned discoveries, the Commission of Audit has the following suggestions:

. All public departments shall formulate its own internal management mechanism and regularly review its assignment of secretarial duties;

. There must be clear definition when setting up posts that require secretarial supports.

. Requirements of the General Provisions for Macao Public Administrative Staffs must be followed, including the appointment of personnel limited to grade 5 to grade 7 in the career chart of the public administration to take up secretarial duties, and general disciplinary requirements such as diligence and punctuality.

. Clear job description and requirements of the candidate shall be formulated. This will facilitate the department in assigning secretarial duties and making effective decisions which as well meets its own need.

. The appointment of secretaries shall be based on not only trustworthiness but also the candidate’s qualification and capacity.

. Prior to any amendment made to the current legal regulations, or under the circumstances that more specific instructions are needed even with the general legal principle in place, the Public Administration and Civil Service Bureau shall make explanations through guidance or circular on regulations concerning the secretarial duties, in order to achieve a unified approach.

※ After completion of the first draft of this report, , the Commission observed the legal requirements and submitted it to the Public Administration and Civil Service Bureau for comments on the audit findings, conclusions and suggestions. As for the compensation regime to the secretaries, the Commission put forward the suggestion that each department “must consider the factor of cost-benefit and adopt the most effective compensation system for overtime compensation to the secretaries”. The Public Administration and Civil Service Bureau raised a legal point of view: “The monetary compensation to the secretaries is in nature a kind of compensation to a particular duty. Such compensation shall not be equalled to, compared with or calculated as to the service hours beyond their regular normal working hours.” Our Commission respects the authority of the Public Administration and Civil Service Bureau in its interpretation of the legislation concerned, and has withdrawn the abovementioned suggestion. However, the Commission considers that if the monetary subsidies are only deemed as the functional compensation to the duty, then it is necessary to clearly define the scope of the duty and qualifications of the candidate, just like the contents of the response of the Bureau.

However, these critical elements have not been specifically discussed in details and widely circulated before, and consequently there is a lack of objective criteria in implementation. Each public department can only operate according to its understanding of the regulations. The Commission amends the suggestion and advocates that the Public Administration and Civil Service Bureau decide the functional scope and qualifications of the secretaries, so that all public departments can meet their needs and make effective selection decision. If secretaries are indeed needed to provide professional assistance to the chiefs, they shall be appointed; if they only provide assistance in general administrative work, then overtime compensation regime shall be adopted to compensate for the assistance performed beyond their regular working hours.m of follow-up and assessment of granting financial aids in order to monitor and evaluate its effectiveness.