Govt to weed out unprofessional auditors – Ofori-Atta

The government has decided to deal with auditors who engage in unprofessional conduct in relation to their work, Finance Minister, Ken Ofori Atta, who has said.

He noted that some auditors in charge of auditing jobs sometimes get away with unprofessional practices because no one audits their work when they are done, a situation he said leads to so many wrongs being buried upon the issuance of their reports never to be resurrected again.

This is he said, will soon be over following the inauguration of a new Tax Audit and Quality Assurance Unit.

The unit which was jointly inaugurated by Ministry of Finance and the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), according to him, was inaugurated to deal with the issue of corruption in revenue mobilization in Ghana.

Mr Ofori Atta said the unit will also ensure a centralized audit planning process and guarantee quality auditing.

He explained that: “Some auditors in charge of auditing jobs sometimes get away with unprofessional practices because no one audits their work when they are done, so many wrongs are buried upon the issuance of their reports never to be resurrected again, and we want to change that.

“So there should be an audit to audit the Auditor concept. Once they know their work may be reviewed, they will not compromise on the integrity of their work.”

For his part, the Commissioner-General of the GRA, Reverend Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah, said the Unit will help the Commission improve revenue collection.

“If you as a tax Authority want to be able to wipe away the issue of corruption and integrity, it requires a definite, purposeful act to move ahead otherwise no matter what you do, we will not be able to get the needed result.

“Therefore GRA as part of our strategic direction aim at coming out with a definite action that will ensure that perception or the reality of corruption as far audit is concerned is reduced to a significant level in GRA. Our commitment to this course is absolute” he stated.