Auditor-General Edward Dua Agyeman has descended sharply on his subordinates, describing them as persons who lack the commitment and discipline, needed for an effective realization of the terms of reference of the Auditor–General’s Department.
This he claims has resulted in his inability to submit to Parliament audited reports of all public institutions in the country, citing as an example, the inappropriate attention given by personnel of his outfit when they are sent out to investigate public institutions and their accounts.
The acting Auditor-General made these submissions when the “Network Herald” sought clarification from him on why he opts for private audit firms instead of his own staff to audit the accounts of public institutions at ridiculous cost to the taxpayer. He suggested that the blame, for the long delays in submitting audit reports to the legislature and the executive for debate and ratification should be placed on his personnel and not him.
Article 187(5) of the constitution demands that the Auditor-General shall, within six months after the end of the immediate preceding financial year… submit his reports to Parliament and shall in that report, draw attention to any irregularities in the account audited and to any other matter which in his opinion ought to be brought to the notice of parliament.
At the moment, the Audit Service is in 7 to 9 year’s arrears to submit to parliament its reports on the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDA’s). Documents available to the Network Herald indicate that Baffour Awuah and Associates, a Chartered Accounting firm alone has so far been paid over six hundred and five million cedis (?605,442,000000) for auditing payments made to Goldcity Communications Group Limited by the Divestiture Implementation Committee (DIC) and the Trade and Investment Account.
Mr. Agyeman explained that to reduce the enormous pressure that is mounting on the Service, he decided to resort to the use of private Chartered Accounting firms who according to him, are more committed to their duties and deliver better results.
The shift to him would also enable the Service cut down its arrears by 50 percent. The Auditor-General who has been in the news in recent times for allegedly taking a salary advance mentioned the specific case of auditors from his outfit who were scheduled to audit the Korle-bu Teaching Hospital and the National Vocational Training Institute (NVTI) but who after months of what could only be persistent work, came back and indicated they discovered no wrong or irregularity within those two institutions. Not satisfied with their reports, he asked two other firms to re-audit both institutions and midway into their investigations they’ve, managed to unearth irregularities running many into billions of cedis where his people had failed.
“They are not performing due to their appalling attitude towards work hence their reports are always negative.” The Network Herald embarked on this mission when it was brought to its notice that the Private firms, some of which are recycled from the stables of the Auditor-Generals’ Office, milk the taxpayer of so many millions of cedis to conduct those investigations.
Popular among the Auditing Firms being contracted are foreign entities like Ernst and Young, Deloitte and Touche, Price Waterhouse, KPMG and local boy Messier. Baffour Awuah and Associates. He softened the cushion for his staff however by throwing in an observation that besides the appalling attitudes of his personnel, the service lacks the resources and the expertise that understands the rudiments of the auditing that unearths contemporary hi-tech fraud.
