• About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Photo Gallery
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
  • Citi TV
Saturday, February 4, 2023
Citinewsroom - Comprehensive News in Ghana
  • Home
  • News
  • Business
  • Sports
  • Showbiz
  • Coronavirus
  • Infographics
  • Livestream
  • Videos
No Result
View All Result
Citinewsroom - Comprehensive News in Ghana
  • Home
  • News
  • Business
  • Sports
  • Showbiz
  • Coronavirus
  • Infographics
  • Livestream
  • Videos
No Result
View All Result
Citinewsroom - Comprehensive News in Ghana
No Result
View All Result

Governance specialist chides Auditor General for breaching constitution

ShareShareShareShare

A Chartered Certified Accountant, Dr Valentin Mensah, has chided the Auditor General and the Audit Service for alleged multiple breaches of the Constitution and the law in the audit of State-Owned-Enterprises.

According to the governance specialist, the decision by the Service and its head to audit Public Corporations and State Owned Enterprises is a clear breach of regulation 204 of the Public Financial Management Regulations, 2019 (L.I. 2378), which mandates the Auditor General to appoint an external auditor licensed under the Chartered Accountants Act 1963 (Act 170) in accordance with International Standards on Auditing.

Dr Mensah, who doubles as the Chief Executive Officer of CBS Consulting, explained that the Ghana Audit Service has also unilaterally decided to charge colossal amounts for “incidentals” to these SOEs in flagrant violation of Article 187 (11) and (14) of the 1992 Constitution and section 26 of the Audit Service Act, 2000 (Act 584).

Dr Valentin Mensah made these remarks during a Corporate Governance Faculty lecture organized by the Institute of Chartered Accountants, Ghana (ICAG).

The lecture was under the theme: “The Auditor General’s audit of Public Corporations and the State Owned Enterprises and the Compliance with the Constitutional and Legal Public Financial Management Rules: A critical evaluation.”

Dr Mensah said Ghana Audit Service’s insistence on auditing SOEs comes with dire implications on Ghana’s public finance management systems that need urgent attention.

He referred to the late submission of audited accounts by SOEs which have over the years remained a big challenge for the Ministry of Finance and SIGA with implications on the publication of State Ownership Report for the monitoring of the SOEs and other state entities.

“No SOE including the 36 covered in the 2017 State Ownership Report had submitted 2017 audited financials by end of April 2018 in breach of sections 80 and 95 of PFM Act, 2016 (Act 921). 6 SOEs and 22 OSEs have not submitted any financial statement for the FYs 2016, 2017 and 2018,” he stated.

He further added that “out of 52 SOE portfolios, only 47 submitted some form of accounting in 2020. 32 of those portfolios submitted audited accounts, three submitted draft accounts, and 12 submitted only management accounts with five of them submitting no account at all, the review of the reports has shown”.

According to Dr Mensah, SIGA is yet to issue the SOE audit report for 2021 even though the year 2022 is getting to an end.

Contrary to the public perception that the country has lost over GHS 17 billion due to the AG’s insufficient clarification of financial irregularities reported in the 2021 audit report to Parliament, Dr Valentin Mensah says a whopping 97% of that figure are neither financial losses nor malfeasance.

According to him, over GHC16.35 billion of that figure are outstanding or overdue receivables of large entities including COCOBOD, VRA, ECG, NEDCO, BOST, GNPC, etc, which does not necessarily constitute acts of corruption.

In a critical review of the A-G’s report on Public Boards, Corporations and other Statutory Institutions for the period ended 31 December 2021, Dr Mensah said “out of the GHS17.48 billion reported as irregularities by the A-G, GHS48.48 million is an overstatement due to currency translation errors caused by the posting of cedi amounts in the USD column of the summary table and retranslating into cedis.”

He said the reporting of GHS17 billion financial irregularity with adequate clarification may have collateral damage on the reputation of the country especially when there is no evidence to point to corruption or malfeasance.

As a way of solving some of the challenges, Dr Mensah said all stakeholders must come together to seek the improvement of the Auditor General’s critical oversight responsibility and also streamline the appointment process of independent auditors for SOEs.

Dr Valentin Mensah also charged the Institute of Chartered Accountants, Ghana (ICAG), to become more active in its role as the regulator of the accountancy and audit profession to make the nation feel its impact.

To situate financial irregularities from the proper perspective, Dr Mensah said Ghana can emulate the process and procedure of the South African AG which has distinguished between an irregular expenditure representing all non-compliance with laws and material irregularity which is non-compliance due to fraud, corruption or abuse of duty.

ShareTweetSendSend
Previous Post

256 teachers accuse unions of neglect amid tussle over promotions

Next Post

Malta Guinness embarks on plastic waste campaign  

Related Posts

General

Amnesty International Ghana appoints Genevieve Partington as New Country Director

February 3, 2023
Top Stories

Failure to resolve Opuni trial in six years simply unacceptable – AG

February 3, 2023
General

Auditor General’s report exposes NPP’s recklessness in managing public funds – NDC SA executive

February 2, 2023
Top Stories

Ayariga accuses military of killing 7 civilians in Bawku

February 1, 2023
Top Stories

Domelevo yet to receive emoluments 3yrs after his forced leave, removal

February 1, 2023
Top Stories

Ghana must debate making Covid vaccines mandatory – Okoe Boye

January 31, 2023
Next Post

Malta Guinness embarks on plastic waste campaign  

TOP STORIES

The Spelling Bee 2023: N’Adom Darko-Asare retains title in impressive style

February 4, 2023

Economic crisis affecting NPP’s campaign message for 2024 – Alan

February 4, 2023

Road Safety Authority advocates for dualisation of major roads to reduce crashes

February 4, 2023
Load More
ADVERTISEMENT
Citinewsroom – Comprehensive News in Ghana

CitiNewsroom.com is Ghana's leading news website that delivers high quality innovative, alternative news that challenges the status quo.

Archives

Download App

Download

Download

  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Photo Gallery
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
  • Citi TV

© 2021 All Rights Reserved Citi Newsroom.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Business
  • Sports
  • Showbiz
  • Coronavirus
  • Infographics
  • Livestream
  • Videos

© 2021 All Rights Reserved Citi Newsroom.

We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept All”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent.
Cookie SettingsAccept All
Manage consent

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
CookieDurationDescription
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional11 monthsThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy11 monthsThe cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytics
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Advertisement
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
Others
Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.
SAVE & ACCEPT