Public Agenda (Accra)
Ebenezer Hanson
19 September 2008
Kumasi — Internal Auditors of Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) have been advised to resist any form of enticement or pressures from Chief Executives to doctor audit reports.
They can only do this by maintaining high professional standards and integrity in the discharge of their duties, says Alhaji Ibrahim Dey Abubakari, Head of the Audit Department, Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development.
Alhaji Abubakari was reacting to concerns raised by some Internal Auditors regarding frustrations they face at the hands of some DCEs who sometimes employ subtle and overt means in an attempt to influence them to doctor audit reports.
"No DCE has the authority to order an Internal Auditor to change audit reports. Any time a DCE asks you to alter any audit report, don't do it; if he/she persists, maintain your grounds and write a report stating clearly your points of disagreement so that whoever is responsible for receiving the report will know where you differed with the DCE," he urged Internal Auditors.
The issues came up at the maiden Public Agenda-GTZ workshop on Transparency and Accountability in the Development Activities of the MMDAs held in Kumasi on September 16. The workshop provided a platform for discussing strategies to promote transparency and accountability at the district assemblies to give meaning to fiscal decentralization.
Earlier in a presentation on The Role of Internal Auditors in MMDAs on Accountability in Ghana, Alhaji Abubakari cleared the misconception that the Internal Auditors of the MMDAs are to submit audit reports to the Internal Audit Service with possible recentralizing effects, which defeat the very essence of decentralization.
He explained that, the Head of the Internal Audit Unit shall at intervals of three months, prepare a report on internal audit work carried out by his/her outfit during the period of three months immediately preceding the preparation of the report and submit the report to the Presiding Member of the Assembly and not the Ministry of Local Government.
"The Internal Audit of an MMDA is the most decentralized unit and Internal Auditors are part of the MMDAs; the Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Environment only recruits them on behalf of the MMDAs," he argued.
He said Internal Auditors are important to the nation's development in that if they execute their functions well, they could ensure accuracy and reliability of financial information, compliance with laws, policies and procedures in budget formulation and implementation. They also safeguard and ensure judicious use of the nation's resources, facilitate the prevention and detection of fraud as well as ensuring risks management.
Nonetheless, Alhaji Abubakari advised the Internal Auditors not to be glued to their chairs and concentrate on pre-auditing, but should be on the field to inspect projects to ascertain their veracity or otherwise. By so doing they will facilitate the prevention of and detection of fraud and in the same vein not be trapped into deals".
During discussions a participant asked Presiding Members (PMs) to help protect Internal Auditors from harassment and bullying tactics of some DCEs, since they are the recipients of the audit reports.
Another participant proposed that, to preempt any form of confusion in the minds of Internal Auditors as to their line of reporting, their appointment letters should spell out in clear language whom they must submit audit reports to.
Commenting on why Internal Auditors should strictly adhere to their Code of Ethics, Mr. Eric Oduro Osae of the Institute of Local Government Studies, said, "Integrity brings money and not money bringing integrity." Our quarterly Decentralisation Agenda newspaper will capture the entire workshop next week.
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