The capacity of internal auditors at the
Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) as well as the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) are being improved to ensure
effective and efficient performance.
It would in addition, enable them to muster courage and point out irregularities to the heads of the institutions in compliance with auditing
regulations despite the risks.
This was disclosed by Mr Patrick Nomo, Director General of Internal Audit Agency (IAA) at a meeting with representatives of IAA and Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) on Audit Report Implementation Committees (ARICs) in
Accra on Friday.
He said the ARICs were determined to ensure recommendations of audit reports were implemented to avoid repetition of irregularities identified.
The ARICs are statutory independent corporate governance committees in the Public Sector Financial Management system responsible for promoting effective functioning of internal audit units at the MDAs and MMDAs.
They also ensure the implementation of audit recommendations for effective utilisation of public resources in line with the objectives of the Public Financial Management Reform Programme.
Mr Nomo noted that since the inception of ARICs three years ago with about 20 committees, the IAA had established 212 committees in all the MDAs and MMDAs to ensure proper scrutiny of activities of these institutions for
efficient and effective use of public funds.
However, he said with the determination of the MDAs and MMDAs to comply with all legal and administrative requirements, they were faced with
capacity challenges to implement recommendations of audit reports and tasked the ARICs to intensify efforts to remedy the situation.
"It is for this reason that we, as independent experts on the ARICs, need to strategise to fill this gap in an efficient manner and not compromise our independence," he said.
Mr Nomo urged ARICs that were not functioning as expected to re-focus their attention to ensure efficiency of the public sector.