Dr. Eric Oduro Osae is a governance and Public Financial Management (PFM) expert, a Chartered Accountant and Lawyer. He practiced previously from the Chamber of Koi Larbie and Co. and has served as the head of finance and accounts at the Institute of Local Government Studies between 2000-2010, served as a senior lecturer in local government finance, fiscal decentralization, Public Financial Management (PFM) and public sector accounting in the same institute rising to become the founding Dean of Graduate Studies and Research of the institute. Dr. Osae is currently the Director-General of the Internal Audit Agency. Until his appointment, he served as the UNDP appointed Technical Advisor on Governance to the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development (MLGRD) from 2017-2020. Aside from been a Local Governance Expert, Dr. Osae is also an ADR professional, Organizational Development (OD) Expert and a Political Economist. He has over 20 years’ experience in local governance and decentralisation issues and has written, published and presented over 90 papers at local and international conferences in his area of expertise in countries such as Rwanda, Tanzania, Niger, Kenya, Uganda, South Africa, Zambia, Netherlands and Canada. Dr. Osae graduated from the Ghana School of Law as the best Tax lawyer during his call to the bar. As a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants (ICA)’, Ghana and a Chartered Accountant, Dr. Osae practiced as an Auditor with Coopers and Lybrands (now PWC) during his early days as a young Accountant. Dr. Osae has also served as Organisational Development (OD) Consultant for a number of institutions in both the private and public sector using the Gestalt approach. Dr. Osae has served on the Communications and Publications Committee of the ICA, Ghana since 2012 and has been an examiner in Public Sector Accounting and Finance paper of the ICAG for over a decade now. He has a PhD in Political Economy, Master of Laws (LLM) from the University of London with specialisation in Law and Development, Master of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) from the PULSE Institute, Canada, a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B) degree from the  Faculty of Law , University of Ghana, a Bachelor of Commerce (B.Com) from the University of Cape-Coast and a Barrister at law (BL) Certificate from the Ghana School of Law. Dr. Osae holds member in good standing status with a number of recognized professional bodies in Ghana and abroad, including; the Institute of Chartered Accountants, Ghana, Ghana Bar Association (GBA), Institute of Human Resources Management Practitioners (IHRMP-G), Institute of Directors (IoD), OD practitioners’ forum of Ghana and the Ghana Association of Mediators and Arbitrators (GHACMA). Dr. Osae consulted widely for national, international and local governments.

• He undertook an international consultancy assignment on Decentralization with the Government of Zambia to streamline the Decentralization and Local Governance system of the country with support from KfW.
• He also served as a World Bank consultant on local; government and financial management to support the development of a new Public Financial Management Reforms in Ghana;
• He has Consulted for the World Bank by undertaking a baseline survey on the status of revenue and assets management within Ghanaian MMDAs to inform the development of the $175million Local Government Capacity Building Project (LCBP) for Ghana.
• He also served as a Local municipal finance expert under the Agence Française de Development (AfD) funded Ghana Urban Management Project (GUMMP) in collaboration with the VNGi of Netherlands.
• He was a consultant to the former Municipal Finance Project in Ghana charged with the responsibility of preparing Local governments in Ghana to attract private capital from the capital markets.
• Worked with Batsa Nakotey and Co to support the Ghana Audit service in the development and capacity building of staff of the service in performance Audit manual for Local Governments in Ghana;
• Consultant to the office of the Administrator of the District Assemblies Common Fund (DACF) to review the District Assemblies Common Fund Act 455, 1994
• A consultant to the National Association of Local Authorities of Ghana (NALAG) to develop a criterion to assess the level and status of local democracy in Ghana
• A consultant to Draft a new Constitution for the Association of Assembly members in Ghana
• A consultant to the MLGRD in the development of the current internal Auditing manual for local government Auditors in Ghana
• Served as a consultant to the National Association of Local Authorities of Ghana (NALAG) for the development of templates and manuals to be used in improving local level accountability to participating local governments under the LOGO South project (A NALAG / Association of Dutch Municipalities Project).
• He has served also as a consultant to the VNGi to evaluate the impact of the LOGO South project on improving social accountability in participating districts
• A consultant to the French Embassy in developing and implementing a financial management manual for districts in the Western Region of Ghana to enhance revenue transparency and Accountability.
• A legal and institutional Consultant to the Ghana Social Opportunities Project (G-SOP)- A world Bank/Government of Ghana project to harmonise social intervention programmes and expenditure in Ghana.
• As a land lawyer, Dr. Osae has also consulted for the CHF and under Land Services Centre (LSC) Project as a land lawyer to land owners to undertake statutory declaration for the purpose of registering and perfecting their tile to the land.
• Was engaged by VNGi International of the Netherlands as a local Audit Expert to support their work in developing audit strategy papers for Ghana under the World Bank Funded Local Government Capacity Support Project (LGCSP)
• Supported the Local Government Service to develop a number of manuals including one on the financial legislations supporting local government finance.
• Worked with the internal; Audit Agency to develop the first ever local government internal Audit manual.
• Supported the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) to develop a media guide for journalists in Ghana.

Dr. Osae’s latest book on “Fiscal Decentralization and Financial Management Practices of Sub- national Government: Evidence from Ghana” is a recommended text book for studies in Public Administration, fiscal decentralization and Public Sector Accounting.