The Audit Service to be modernized and more professional

Tamale, July 31, GNA – Mr. Richard Quartey, the Acting Auditor General, has appealed to auditors to discharge their mandate with ultimate care and change their attitude to work to change the face of the service.

He said the management of the Audit Service is in the process of instituting changes intended to modernize the Service to make it more capable and professional in fulfilling its watchdog role over public funds and properties to meet international standards.

Mr. Quartey was addressing District, Municipal, Metropolitan and Regional auditors from the Northern, Upper East and Upper West regions in Tamale on Thursday at a short-term training on the Public Procurement Act (Act 663) of 2003.

He said a new corporate plan document, which charts a path and direction that requires the Audit Service to engage more professional accountants, engineers and architects and other professionals to enhance performance is being drawn.

The workshop is collaboration between the Audit Service and the Public Procurement Authority (PPA) and funded by the German Development Co-operation (GTZ) aimed at training 631 Audit officers in relation to the statutory duties of auditors under the Act.

Mr. Quartey said with the assistance of the European Union, most of the Auditors had already been trained in modern financial audit techniques, IT audit and performance audit.

He said since procurement required major commitments and expenditure of funds, inefficiencies or uneconomical practices within the procurement function could have detrimental effect on the finances of an organization.

He called on other organizations including the Serious Fraud Office, the media and the police to play their respective roles in safeguarding public funds.

GNA