27 Audit Reports 5 Years on the Shelf

About 27 audits conducted by the Auditor-General�s Department for the past five years have not been published because of budgetary constraints. As a result, recommendations made by the department to avert financial maladministration could not be implemented by the Public Accounts Committee. John Atta-Senyah, Deputy Auditor-General in charge of district assemblies and educational institutions, made this known last Friday at a stakeholder�s forum organised by the Audit Service in Accra. The forum, on the theme, �The Audit Service, achievements and challenges in the new millennium,� was aimed at collating the views of stakeholders on the challenges facing the service for improved budgetary allocation. Mr Atta-Senyah said the inability of the Auditor-General�s Department to fulfil its constitutional obligations did not only leave taxpayers with lingering doubts as to the proper utilisation of public taxes but also constituted failure in proper financial management practices. He mentioned some of those reports in arrears as statements of Foreign Exchange Receipts and Payments of Bank of Ghana from 2007, Pre-University Educational Institutions from 2006, District assemblies Common Fund and Traditional Councils from 2005, Tertiary Educational Institutions from 2001 and Public Boards, Corporations and statutory organisations. He said irregular auditing of public organisation and institutions had created room from unscrupulous officials to engage in financial malpractices that result in financial loss to the state. �Parliament is also denied prompt access to important information about the manner in which public officials are utilizing the public resources approved by Parliament�, he said. Mr Atta-Senyah stated that with adequate resources, the audit department could clear 50 interim and 50 annual audits for each of the four consecutive years from 2005. �Another 190 interim and 190 annual audits for pre-university institutions will be conducted for three consecutive years starting from 2006 in addition to 500 outstanding audits for district assemblies as well as 1.140outstanding audit for pre-university institutions.� The Chief Justice, Mrs Georgina Wood, assured the Auditor-General of the Judiciary�s support to train auditors to prepare reliable documents to settle issues of financial malfeasance against people who misappropriated state resources.