Dr. John Kumah receiving a citation from executives of IAA
DEPUTY MINISTER for Finance, Dr. John Ampontuah Kumah, has urged the Internal Audit Agency (IAA) to develop cutting-edge tools and programmes to strengthen the work of auditors and support the government in its fiscal consolidation efforts.
The Member of Parliament for Ejisu also charged auditors to perform their duties with utmost professionalism, independence, objectivity, courage, and a high sense of patriotism.
Dr. Kumah disclosed this when he was speaking at the closing ceremony of the Internal Audit Conference organised by the IAA in Accra on the theme: “Injecting fiscal discipline into resource mobilisation and utilisation for sustainable development: The role of internal auditors.”
The three-day conference was attended by internal auditors from across the country, and individuals, agencies, and institutions who distinguished themselves in their work were honoured.
The minister further said that auditors must not compromise standards, adding “there is a direct correlation between an effective internal audit function and accelerated economic development of our country. And it’s for this reason that I urge you all to put the country first in your job.”
Dr. Kumah explained that the Akufo-Addo-led government is embarking on a restructuring programme to strengthen the internal audit service to help prevent corruption and also ensure efficiency in the use of public funds.
He explained that Ghana is currently experiencing its fair share of the global economic challenges, which are manifested among other things, in high inflation, pressure on our currency, and difficulties with raising adequate domestic revenue.
According to him, “This situation has called for extraordinary measures instituted by government aimed at mitigating the depreciation of the cedi, ensuring expenditure discipline, and providing relief in the face of the global fuel price hikes and inflation, as well as ensuring that priority programmes meant to grow the economy are protected.
“These included a 30% cut in discretionary expenditure, a 50% cut in fuel coupon allocations for all political appointees and heads of government institutions, including SOEs, a complete moratorium on the purchase of imported vehicles for the rest of the year, measures to eliminate “ghost” workers from the government payroll by end of December 2022, reduce expenditure on all meetings and conferences by 50%, pursue a comprehensive re-profiling strategy to reduce the interest expense burden on the fiscal.”
He said per the measures to improve the domestic revenue mobilisation been put in place by the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), the revenue to GDP ratio for Ghana will increase from the current 13% to the 20% target by 2023.
Dr. Kumah also assured the public that government will continue to support the work of auditors in their assurance services they offer, including the work of the Auditor General in the publication of his reports on the audit of public funds.
He said in the recent report of the Auditor General, for 2021, the total value of irregularities reported is GH¢1,080,931,937 from a previous year’s reported amount of GH¢2,053,176,449.8 in 2020.
“This indicates a GH¢972,244,512.85 (representing 47.35%) reduction in the value of previously reported infractions and a cumulative average reduction in the value of infractions from GH¢5,196,043,399.94 in 2018 to GH¢1,080,931,937 in 2021, representing 79.19% reduction. This shows a declining trend in the financial impact of the reported irregularities from 2018 to 2021,” he added.
The Director-General of the State Interest and Governance Authority (SIGA), Edward Boateng, on his part, also emphasised the need for auditors to strengthen corporate governance practices in their respective institutions.
BY Daniel Bampoe