Nova Scotia Auditor General Michael Pickup says all information about the expenses of former IWK Health Centre CEO Tracy Kitch is being handed over to police, and he will now take over responsibility for auditing the hospital's books and practices.

In a statement Tuesday afternoon, Pickup announced his intention to conduct financial and performance audits of the IWK's books and practices.

The provincial government said in the statement Pickup and staff have been meeting with IWK officials and reviewing public reports, but have not yet conducted any detailed audit procedures.

"I am gravely concerned with the ineffectiveness of financial controls and lack of rigor in financial management as publicly reported by the IWK in recent weeks," Pickup said in a statement. "Given the serious nature of the identified weaknesses at the IWK, my office intends to conduct financial and performance audits of the IWK's books and practices."

The province says the performance audit is expected to cover critical aspects of oversight, financial management and controls on expenditures.

“The auditor general and the IWK have agreed that, as a result of discussions to date, the IWK will turn the information it currently has related to the former CEO's expenses over to police for their consideration on any possible legal matters,” the province said in the statement.

Pickup says he's concerned about what the scandal has revealed about the hospital's ability to manage, but also what it is doing to the hospital's reputation.

He says, if further actions need to be taken, it will be up to police.

"Whenever there are personal expenditures that need to be reimbursed to an organization and questions around that, I think the people who really have the insight and authorities to answer questions to whether there's anything there are really the policing people. It's not me as the auditor, those are policing questions,” Pickup says.

Nova Scotia Health Minister Randy Delorey also released a statement late Tuesday afternoon, indicating that he agrees with the auditor general's decision.

Pickup says he doesn’t want the scandal to “drag on” for several years, and is hoping to have his audit completed by the spring of next year, depending on what they find.

With files from CTV Atlantic’s Laura Brown.