Government has committed some $1.5 million for the automation of the auditing process in the country.
The move, according to Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, is geared towards making the Ghana Audit Service more responsive to the changing dynamics in the fight against corruption.
Dr Bawumia made this known at the 8th Annual Accountability Lectures and launching of 2017 Financial Year’s Audit organised by the Ghana Audit Service in Accra on Monday.
“I am happy to say that following from the mid-term review of the PFM project, the Audit Service has been allocated $1.5million to be used in automating the auditing process. A fully automated Audit Service will take the role of protecting the public purse to a level higher than it is today.”
The programme was under the theme ‘Protecting the Public Purse – Our Commitment towards Ghana’s Development Agenda’.
According to the Vice President, automation of the audit process is part of the ongoing Public Financial Management reforms aimed at enhancing efficiency in the public sector.
“It is sad to say that while almost all government systems are either automated or are in the process of being automated, the Audit Service is still using manual auditing processes. Imagine the irony and the ineffectiveness of auditing automated systems using manual auditing processes.
“It is time for the Audit Service to go paperless,” Vice President Bawumia declared.
Protecting the public purse was a major electioneering message for then candidate Akufo-Addo and his team, and Dr Bawumia commended the Auditor-General and his staff, whose decision to undertake a special audit into the liabilities of the Ministries, Departments and Agencies led to the disallowance of payments totalling GH¢5.4 billion to ‘ghost’ companies, a major saving to the public purse.
“I urge the Auditor-General to sustain this exercise in order to instill discipline in public financial management at all levels of government, and to deter public officers who might be contemplating to dupe the State using their unpatriotic practices.”
An additional $500,000 has also been allocated under the PFM project to support the Ghana Audit Service to train staff in the use of computer-aided tools and to build capacity for greater performance.
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