USAID in collaboration with the Ghana Strengthening Accountability Mechanism (GSAM) organised a Technical Roundtable on Performance Auditing on 23rd June, 2022 at the Marfoa Conference Room of the Tomreik Hotel, East Legon. In attendance at the workshop were officials from the Internal Audit Agency, Ghana Audit Service, Ministry of Finance, and Common Fund Secretariat.
Mr. Samuel Addai Boateng, Deputy Chief of Party delivered the welcome remarks. He highlighted the benefits of performance auditing and said one of them is that, the activity brings out findings which financial auditing is unable to. He stated that in August, 2022, a forum was held to brainstorm means of institutionalising performance auditing at the decentralised level. To this end, stakeholder institutions such as the Internal Audit Agency (IAA), Ghana Audit Service (GAS) and the Office of the Head of Local Government Service (OHLGS) were engaged to ensure performance auditing is implemented at the decentralised level. Mr. Addai Boateng mentioned that the purpose of the workshop is to discuss policy and financial options of performance auditing and how the IAA and GAS will complement each other to ensure the success of the activity.
A representative from the Ghana Audit Service made a presentation of the GAS’ mandate on performance auditing. The presentation touched on the mandate of GAS, what/who GAS is mandated to audit, who GAS reports to by way submission of reports and the way forward. She also informed participants that GAS submits financial audit reports yearly but it is the Auditor-General who determines when performance auditing should be conducted. She stated that performance auditing is carried out to examine economy, efficiency and effectiveness with which audited bodies use their resources. She mentioned infrastructure, environment among others as areas where performance auditing is conducted.
Mr. Anthony Baidoo, Senior Manager, PBME of the Internal Audit Agency presented a policy paper on performance auditing. His presentation touched on the background, problem statement, objectives, legal framework and strategies put in place to ensure performance auditing becomes a reality. According to Mr. Baidoo, the strategies include the following:
- IAA will engage key stakeholders to review the Performance Audit Manual.
- IAA in consultation with the OHLGS will provide training for Internal Auditors on performance auditing.
- IAA will issue directives to Internal Audit Units to identify performance auditing thrust areas in their annual audit work plans.
- IAA will monitor performance auditing
- IAA will collaborate with the Ministry of Finance to administer sanctions for non-compliance of directives.
He concluded the presentation by mentioning some ongoing activities being undertaken by the Agency to support the institutionalisation of performance auditing at the decentralised level. These are the restructuring of the internal audit function, Review Panel to interrogate irregularities that might be sighted in performance audit reports and the Public Financial Management League Table (PFMLT).
Mr. T.A. Thompson-Aryee, Deputy Director-General in charge of Finance and Administration expertly answered questions on:
- Whether or not the role of the Agency on performance auditing constitutes a duplication of functions to that of GAS.
- Whether restructuring the internal audit function will not re-centralize Internal Auditors rather than the decentralisation needed for the success of performance auditing.
- Whether the Agency has the capacity to carry out the performance auditing.
