Internal Audit Agency Chairman, Joseph Winful
Report by Ben LARYEA
The Chairman of the Internal Audit Agency (IAA) Board, Mr. Joseph Winful has announced that the agency through Internal Auditors across the country have saved the nation a whopping amount of Ghc 4.5 million.
According to IAA, the said money could have been lost through irregularities in the payroll of public institutions during the first quarter of 2023.
“The IAA working in through the network of Internal Auditors and Audit Committees across the country have also uncovered over Ghc 3.3 million payments or processing of transactions outside the GIFMIS system”, he said, and hinted further that the Agency will continue to work with the Controller and Accountant General’s Department (CAGD) to resolve challenges with the use of GIFMS to enhance value for money in public administration.
This came to light at the launch of the Internal Audit Awareness week to mark 20 years of passing the IAA Act 2003 (Act 658) under the theme, “Relevance of Preventing Corruption in Ghana Through Institutional Collaboration; Role of Internal Auditor”.
Dr. Oduro Osae Executive Director IAA
The week long activity is set aside annually to sensitize, recognise and celebrate hardworking auditors working in the public sector across the country.
Speaking at the launch in Accra, the Board Chairman of IAA, Mr. Joseph Winful said management of the Agency have put in place pragmatic measures to engage government and all public institutions to pay attention to internal auditing as the best way of preventing or reducing corruption and explained that scaling up internal audit systems can curb and also prevent financial irregularities before it occurs.
Consequently, the operations of the IAA forms part of the efforts of improving checks and balances and efficiency in the use of public funds, as the IAA Act was passed together with the Public Procurement Act 2003 (Act 663) and the then Financial Administration Act 2003 (Act 654).
“20 years of effective Public Sector Internal Audit (PSIA) in the country, Audit operations have witnessed tremendous successes with significant impact on the Agency PFM systems towards the socio-economic development of the country”, he said adding that one cannot imagine where Ghana would have been without a viable internal auditing systems for the past 20 years.
The Chairman disclosed that despite the challenges of IAA with its limited resources, it continues to save the country millions of cedis and was quick to state that due to the recent vigilance of the Internal Audit Unit of the Lands Commission Secretariat, an amount of Ghc 100 million fraud was uncovered at the Commission.
Touching on some challenges facing the public sector Internal Audit space, Mr Winful urged the government to adequately resource the Agency and other related audit institutions in the areas of remunerations and also enhance conditions of service.
Source: www.thenewindependentonline.com
