Improper financial control "killing" public institutions

Accra, Feb. 17, GNA - Improper financial control to ensure prompt recovery of debts is a major shortcoming of public institutions being examined by the Public Accounts Committee currently, Mr Albert Kan Dapaah= , Chairman of the Committee, said on Tuesday.

He said another common problem is cash and tax irregularities. He no= ted that in 2004 irregularities in outstanding debts stood at A2236,879 mill= ion old Ghana cedis, which reduced to 3,932 million old cedis in 2005.

The Volta River Authority, Electricity Company of Ghana, Public Util= ity Regulatory Commission, Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation Company Limite= d were examined on Tuesday. Institutions expected to appear before the Committee on Wednesday ar= e the Ghana National Petroleum Company, Energy Commission, Social Security and National Insurance Trust, Department of National Lotteries, Bank of Ghana=

and Ghana Cocoa Board. Mr Dapaah described as bad the situation where the Auditor General h= ad to provide assistance to some agencies to bring their financial statement= s to public standards. He said the Auditor General must not provide account= ing services to organizations because such bodies should have the capacity to= do so. He said some organizations did not meet the March 31st deadline for submission of their accounts, which was also unacceptable.

Dr Dapaah also said that out of a total of 65 public boards and corporations that were targeted for audit, only 32 were able to submit th= eir accounts. He said the AG noted that lack of adequate knowledge in accounting b= y account officers accounted for the delays or non-submission of the accoun= ts. The AG observed that the financial position and operational performa= nce of the Boards and Corporations could have been healthier if effective supervision of the scheduled officers and painstaking review by managemen= t had been taken to address the weaknesses and lapses. He said the Committee would sit for eight days to examine the audit reports of a number of public Boards and Corporations. He commended GTZ and the Parliamentary Centre, which sponsored the sittings and workshops that preceded these sittings.