Christian Tetteh Sottie, MD of SML Ghana, explaining a point to the GRA board in the monitoring room
Strategic Mobilisation Ghana Limited (SML) Ghana, a revenue and assurance audit firm, recently held a stakeholder engagement with the Board of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) to discuss a sustainable roadmap that both parties could take to accelerate revenue growth in the country.
The engagement’s goal was to improve good governance by promoting transparency and accountability in the government’s financial affairs.
During the meeting held at the SML Ghana’s office in Tema, Managing Director for SML Ghana, Christian Tetteh Sottie, stated that the meeting comes on the back of an already fruitful relationship between both parties.
He added that the interaction would deepen the collaboration between SML Ghana and the GRA as they discuss challenges and prospects around the advancement and achievement of the country’s enhanced revenue mobilisation drive.
“This meeting with the Board is part of our mandate to deepen our synergies with the Ghana Revenue Authority, and by that, we took them through the detailed methodology of how SML Ghana is leveraging technology to improve the sector. When we do this, we are always on the same page and are able to communicate effectively as well,” he said.
Mr. Sottie also reaffirmed SML Ghana’s commitment to increasing government revenue mobilisation, saying, “We appreciate your presence and the effort you put into assisting us in smoothly performing our daily activities, and we assure you that SML Ghana will continue to put in all the necessary measures and processes in place to ensure a smooth audit process because we understand the impact that these activities have on the overall state of the economy.”
Board Chair for the GRA, Dr. Anthony Oteng-Gyasi, lauded SML Ghana for adopting and putting into place more effective digital and innovative controls leading to an increase in the government’s ability to raise revenue.
“What we have seen here today is indeed a good job by SML Ghana, and we are very happy to know that they keep monitoring in real-time and at all times, and we hope that these processes should further enhance our tax collection and also increase our revenue mobilisation,” he said.
To address any future shortcomings, Dr. Oteng-Gyasi urged SML Ghana to continue investing in innovative measures, while emphasising the importance of building ongoing relationships that enrich the audit quality and improve revenue mobilisation processes.
“We will urge you to maintain the standard in terms of the sensors you use and the management devices and to avoid falling out and giving incorrect readings. The entire nation is counting on you for these revenues, and the GRA is prepared to provide the necessary assistance to ensure smooth revenue assurance,” he stated.
Commissioner-General of the Ghana Revenue Authority, Dr. Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah, while similarly extolling SML Ghana’s role, stated that the tax authority is increasingly seeing the need to apply data in revenue collection. Consequently, he said, the GRA would look at other sectors where SML Ghana’s audit processes could be applied to help close the country’s revenue gap.
“Since they began, we have seen an increase in revenue, and whatever opportunity we have to look at it in other areas, we will pursue it, but at the end of the day, the goal is to be able to increase revenue, and we are quite pleased with what they have done thus far. So we will continue to monitor the areas where we know that monitoring will aid in closing the revenue gap,” he said.
Instant Impact
SML Ghana partnered with the Customs Division of the GRA to implement the Electronic Metering Management System (EMMS) project. This digital measurement project aims to monitor revenue from downstream petroleum products from over 20 depots across Ghana. The EMMS digitises the entire process chain, providing an end-to-end audit and assurance for the GRA in the downstream petroleum sector.
Since its introduction in 2020, SML Ghana’s technological solutions have resulted in an average monthly volume of 450 million litres of petroleum products recorded by its meters in the petroleum sector.
Strategic Mobilisation Limited is a wholly-owned Ghanaian company with a strong financial backing of investors with varied business interests in Ghana, across different industries.