Auditors charged to help ensure accountability

By: Issah Alhassan, Kumasi 
Auditors have been charged to execute their jobs efficiently and effectively, in order to complement the efforts of the government in ensuring probity and accountability in the public sector.

The Ashanti Regional Minister, Dr. Kwaku Agyemang-Mensah, who made the call at the official launch of the Ashanti Regional chapter of the Ghana Institute of Internal Auditors (GIIA), said the work of auditors was crucial in safeguarding public coffers and ensuring that funds are expended for the benefit of the ordinary Ghanaian.

According to him, it was in line with the government's commitment towards ensuring probity and accountability that it continued to create the enabling environment, including the building of human resource capacity, to ensure that the Internal Audit Agency Act, 2003(Act 658) is implemented to the core.

Dr. Agyemang-Mensah observed that if auditors are able to expeditiously carry out their duties without fear or favour, the country would be able to effectively utilise the little state resources and help fight corruption.

The objective is to advance the cause of internal auditing as a major discipline in public management, and to also help educate institutions at the local level about the need to place premium on internal auditing.

The creation of the chapter, according to the IIA, was also aimed at promoting the tenets of good governance, effective risk management and control as the key pillars of value creation, necessary for the development of the country.

Participants from various institutions, including the Ghana Education Service (GES), the Police Service, the military, metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies (MMDAs) amongst others, participated in the programme, which was under the theme, 'Expanding the Developmental Boundaries of Internal Audit in Ghana.'

The Board Chairman of the Internal Audit Agency, Nii Adumansa Baddoo, in a keynote address, noted that internal auditing, once a mysterious function and perceived as a watchdog one, was now making serious inroads and making governing boards and management of institutions more accountable.

Nii Adumansa indicated that many institutions would continue to appreciate the benefits of receiving counsel from their internal auditors if they make a strategic commitment to invest in the development of the internal audit function.

He stressed, however, that in spite of the significant gains, internal auditors across the country still require to be developed further to be able to pursue their mandate to the point of excellence.

Touching on initiatives being adopted to strengthen the work of internal auditors, Nii Adumansa said the IAA, with the collaborative support of the GIIA, had commissioned a tertiary level training programme for internal auditors, disclosing further that the Institute of Professional Studies (IPS) would, from the next academic year, commence a Master of Business Degree programme in internal auditing.

'Capacity Building is also a top priority for the IAA, and therefore, the agency has focused on enhancing enterprise risk management training, as well as quality assurance training to ensure audit effectiveness of internal auditors,' he stressed.

He, therefore, expressed the optimism of the IAA that with the launch of the Ashanti Regional chapter, the rebranding message of a renewed and vibrant internal audit function would spread to every part of the country, emphasising the need for members to live up to expectation and work very hard to gain the confidence of the leadership of all institutions, and the public at large.