They call it ‘innovative accounting’ – A-G blames Accountants for corruption
The Auditor-General of Ghana, Daniel Domelevo, has blamed accountants for institutional corruption.
Speaking at the 18th International Anti-Corruption Summit in Copenhagen, Denmark, the tough-talking public servant said accountants describe as “innovative accounting” ways to hide true details of an organisation’s accounts.
“…I cannot excuse are accountants..they know very well that the horses have bolted long ago but they portray a picture to the world that the horses are in there”.
He said there are several cases of companies and organisations that died long ago and yet their audited financial statement claiming to be ‘true and fair’ shows a healthy organisation.
Daniel Domelevo therefore called on international accounting bodies to tighten their regulations in order to ensure integrity and compliance accountants and auditors.
He said bodies like Institute of Chartered Accountants, Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), conduct a practice review to ensure compliance among their members
Sharing Ghana’s experience in fighting corruption, Mr. Domelevo praised Ghana’s laws on the office of the Auditor General.
“The law in Ghana mandates me apart from auditing to hold people accountable”, he said.
He referred to a January 2018 report disallowing expenditures of about 5.4bn cedis ($1.2bn).
“I cancelled it…unless you go to High Court and the court rules against me, you can’t take that money, that money is safe”.
Auditor-General in a report on the liabilities of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) for 2016 rejected over ¢5.4 billion in claims which the Ministry of Finance had submitted to the Audit Service as government’s liabilities.
The Auditor-General justified the disallowances on grounds that there were no relevant documents and other relevant evidence to back the claims. In some cases, the Auditor-General found that the goods cited and for which the claims are being made have not been supplied, or those claims have already been paid.
Daniel Domelevo also revealed Ghana’s legislation to ensure the independence of the audit service to some African countries during a meeting in Rwanda.
Several countries have since adopted it, he said and mentioned Sierra Leone, Liberia, Nigeria.
“South Africa was the last to join two months ago”, he told Joy News.
Ghana’s delegation to the conference included Deputy Finance Minister, Kwaku Kwarteng, the Special Prosecutor, Martin Amidu, head of the Ghana Integrity Initiative, Linda Ofori Kwafo, journalists and civil society activists.
Source : Myjoyonline
