Auditors of Police Service attend workshop

Accra, Jan 26, GNA - A training workshop to educate auditors of the Ghana Police Service on the three new financial laws opened in Accra Thursday with a call on the auditors to maintain high professional standards.

Mr Patrick Kwarteng Acheampong, the Inspector General of Police, asked the officers to promptly report any lapses they might encounter in their operations to management for the necessary actions to be taken on time.

"There shall be no excuse for even officers with lower ranks for any lapses in the discharge of their duties," he warned. Seventy officers of the Internal Audit Unit of the Police Service from all over the country are attending the two-day workshop. The IGP said such training was very essential because his Administration deemed the Audit Unit as important and crucial for the success of the Police Administration.

According to him, good audit procedures would enable individuals and commanders of the unit to improve on their administrative skills, correct faults and avoid audit queries.

He said an effective audit procedure was also good for the police as a corporate body to learn lessons from other agencies, which practiced good audit procedures.

The IGP urged the officers to adhere to all the laws of the principles of the three financial regulations, namely, the Financial Administration Act 2003 (Act 654), the Internal Audit Agency Act 2003 (Act 658) and the Public Procurement Act 2003 (Act 663).

Chief Superintendent Owusu-Boateng, Chief Internal Auditor of the Police Service, said aside the three financial laws, participants would also be taken through new modalities of internal auditing and make them aware of their new responsibilities and expectations.

He explained that the introduction of the financial laws had broadened the roles, responsibilities and expectations of all auditors who are to be well acquainted with these laws.

Mr Patrick Nomo, Director-General of the Internal Audit Agency, who spoke on "The Role of the Internal Auditor in Public Financial Management", said the three financial laws were passed in order to improve financial management in the public sector.

"The ultimate goal of all these reform efforts is to reduce to the barest minimum fraud and corruption in public sector financial management and make Ghana a middle income country by the year 2015." Mr Nomo said to ensure an effective Internal Audit Unit in the Police Service there should be a commitment on the part of Management so that Auditors would be motivated to go the extra mile.

He announced that the Internal Audit Agency would be developing standards, guidelines and procedures to guide internal audit practice in Ghana to enable auditors to perform effectively.