INSTITUTE INTERNAL AUDIT STRUCTURES — OPPONG-YEBOAH (SEPT 21, PAGE 31)

THE Upper East Regional Auditor, Mr Felix Oppong-Yeboah, has suggested that all government agencies as well as Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies should institute strong internal audit structures to ensure the efficient management of resources for development.
His call follows reports of several irregularities in the financial management of two assemblies in the region, namely the Bolgatanga Municipal and Builsa District.
The irregularities include internally generated funds not banked or recorded, failure or wrongful deduction of withholding tax and irregular review of bank reconciliation and improper accounting of imprest.
According to the audit carried out by Messrs Ernst and Young, Chartered Accountants contracted by the Audit Service, the two assemblies also failed to capture subventions from the central government, poor filing system, undue delays at deleting names of retired workers from pay roll and the absence of an Internal Audit Unit.
Mr Oppong-Yeboah, who was addressing a workshop on Public Financial Management at Bolgatanga, therefore, reiterated the need for the strengthening of internal audit structures to avert such problems.
The Audit Service organised the workshop in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance and other financial organisations.
The workshop which attracted participants comprising District Budget Officers, accountants, finance administrators and heads of some departments in the region, was aimed at sensitising the participants to good financial management and to provide an independent opinion from the various agencies whose units the reports identified as areas with problems.
The Deputy Head of the Public Expenditure Monitoring Unit of the Ministry of Finance, Mr Seth Botchway, entreated all Municipal and District Assemblies to take public financial management issues seriously to prevent the loss of state resources .
The Deputy Regional Minister, Mrs Lucy Awuni in a keynote address, said it was not only embezzlement of public funds that constituted irregularities in public financial processes, but also the inability of key officials not doing the work for which they were paid or keeping records as well as adhering to procedures that protected public property and assets.
She, therefore, expressed the hope that the knowledge the participants would gain would help them improve their work.