MoF urged to adequately resource Audit Service
The Special Budget Committee in Parliament has said that the budgeted GH¢ 278.80 million for the Ghana Audit Service was inadequate for the service to effectively protect the public purse.
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Out of a total requirement of GH¢313.48 million that was required for its activities in 2018, only GH¢ 278.80 million was allocated, leaving a funding gap of GH¢ 34.67 million.
This was contained in the committee’s report on the 2018 budget estimates of the Audit Service.
The committee pointed out that the funding gap would compound the challenges of the service and adversely affect its ability to deliver on its mandate of protecting the public purse.
It said the implementation of a number of government policies including One-District One-Factory (1D1F), free senior high school, transfer of US$ 1 million to every constituency among other things would lead to the transfer of substantial resources to the local level which would require the service to intensify its audit services, hence the need to adequately resource it.
“The increase in responsibility and scope requires the allocation of additional resources to enable the service perform its mandatory financial oversight over the use of these resources,” the report indicated.
It said if the service was properly resourced, it could play a major role in opening up fiscal space for the government through savings from audit operations.
It said when the service is adequately resourced, it will enable it to become a crucial partner in the ministry’s efforts to ensure efficient utilisation of the country’s scarce resources.
Untimely release of budgetary allocation
The committee also pointed out that the untimely release of budgetary allocations was hampering the service in the performance of its planned activities.
In 2017, out of an allocation of GH¢186.50 million, only GH¢109.53 million was released to the service. Out of the amount that was released, 87.4 per cent related to compensation, leaving the commission with 12.6 per cent for its auditing activities.
An additional GH¢ 2.14 million was, however, released to it for the conduct of payroll audit and arrears validation in the course of the year.
The Auditor General, Mr Daniel Yaw Domelevo, when he appeared before the committee, informed members that its primary challenge was the irregular and untimely release of funds which affected its ability to effectively perform its mandate and submit the required reports to Parliament.
He indicated that audits were seasonal in nature and required that funds be released to carry out audit activities within specific periods within the year.
As a result, the committee has directed the MoF to consider releasing not less than 50 per cent of the allocation for goods and services which relates to the core activity of audit upfront to the Audit Service at the beginning of each year.
This is to enable it carry out its audit functions and submit its report by the end of June every year as required by law.
It was of the view that the untimely release of funds could cause further delays and causes some audits to fall in arrears.
This, it said, could be very detrimental to best practices and accountability and derail efforts made to hold the managers of the public purse accountable for the use of resources entrusted under their care.
Financial independence of the service
The committee noted that to properly empower the Audit Service, there was the need for some level of financial autonomy and independence in the appointment of staff.
To strengthen the independence of the service, it was of the view that the service should be allowed to retain a proportion of any savings made to the state arising from their audit activities.
It also recommended that the audit service be made to conduct audits for some international and non-governmental organisation at a fee.
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The Auditor General informed the committee that plans were already underway to amend the Audit Service Act to allow the service to retain some of its internally generated funds to support its operations. — GB