Ghana: KPMG Audit Report - Did GRA Sleep On the Job?

23 May 2024
The Accra Times (Accra)
By Nii Marmah Boye

This section of the report examines portions of the Need Assessment component of the KPMG report on the contract between GRA and SML.

The Office of the President has made public the KPMG audit report on the agreement between the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) and Strategic Mobilisation Limited (SML) in response to the persistent calls from Ghanaians and civil society organizations.

The need assessment report revealed that the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) was responsible for certain irregularities and a lack of adequate oversight regarding the contract.

"In respect of contracts signed with SML, GRA had pockets of information suggesting that revenue leakages existed at the relevant areas. However, the problems or gaps that pointed to the need for the services were not comprehensively assembled, technically analysed and documented in support of the contracts," a portion of the report reads

The report additionally disclosed that the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) failed to prepare a technical needs assessment and omitted procurement plans for Strategic Mobilisation Limited (SML). According to the report:

1. GRA did not prepare a technical needs assessment report for Transaction Audit and External Price Verification as well as Measurement Audit for Downstream Petroleum Products services.

- Advertisement - 2. We also noted that GRA did not include the procurement of SML services in its procurement plans for 2018, 2019 and 2023 (the years in which the contracts were signed).

3. Furthermore, in the case of the Revenue Assurance Services in the Upstream Petroleum and Mineral Sectors 5.2.8, MoF and GRA did not document a need assessment report for the components of the contract

Nonetheless, discussions with key stakeholders from MoF and GRA, as well as a review of available correspondences exchanged between GRA, MoF and identified various concerns, with elements of identified gaps or needs with respect to the three (3) services provided by SML

The President engaged KPMG to conduct a comprehensive audit of the contract on January 2, 2024, with an initial timeline of January 16, 2024, subsequently revised to February 23, 2024.

Furthermore, GRA failed to provide supporting evidence for monthly revenue reports prepared by the Revenue Policy Monitoring Unit (RPMU), which highlighted revenue losses, raising concerns about transparency and accountability.

"GRA could not provide evidence in supporting monthly revenue reports prepared by RPMU, detailing revenue losses," it noted.

GRA also could not provide the following documents as requested:

a) Monthly revenue report prepared by RPMU, detailing revenue losses.

b) The position paper requested by the Board, justifying the need.

c) Any other reports issued or utilised by GRA, supporting the assertions on the contributors to revenue shortages.

Read the original article on Accra Times.

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