Your Work Must Add Value, AuGF Charges Auditors
The Auditor-General for the Federation (AuGF), Anthony Mkpe Ayine, says the entire purpose of audit is to add value to the system and tasked auditors to ensure that their work impacts positively on the country.
Ayine gave the charge on Tuesday 23rd October, 2018 when he flagged open the 48th bi-annual conference of the body of Federal and State Auditors-General, at the Audit House in Abuja.
He stressed that any audit work that does not add value is useless, explaining that “an audit report that simply sets out findings but does not state clear and implementable recommendations, falls short of the standard expected. Our impact is also not intended to stop only at the point of submitting our reports”.
The AuGF who noted that Nigeria is still plagued by major underdevelopment, corruption, waste, inefficiency, lack of transparency and infrastructure, said by implementing audit recommendations, government will block leakages and achieve better outcomes from the money it spends.
Ayine urged the State Auditors-General to reflect deeply on the theme of the conference – “The Role of Supreme Audit Institutions in Value Creation” – and come up with ways of ensuring that their work is seen to add value to the system.
“As Auditors-General, we must be able to demonstrate or create some value through our work. Today we are confronted with challenges that have accumulated over decades of neglect. We all need to push for better governance if we are to improve the living conditions of citizens of our country. There can never be good governance without transparency and accountability,” he stated.
He also mentioned various recent achievements of his Office to include manpower development, the launch of its five-year strategic plan, the launch of the new audit methodologies and manuals, as well as the procurement and distribution of audit tools to members of staff to aid their work.
In order to make its work more robust, the AuGF revealed that the Office also has a number of specialized audits underway, such as the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS), the Government Integrated Financial Management and Information Systems (GIFMIS), and the Nigerian Immigration Service e-passport Systems.
Speaking earlier, the Chairman of the body of Federal and State Auditors-General, Abdu Usman Aliyu, said the theme of the conference was very apt in view of the various challenges in governance processes and the need to be thoroughly acquainted with modern trends in auditing.
Aliyu stressed the benefits of value creation by auditors to include a responsive and accountable government, effective Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs), strong systems and engaged citizens, and urged participants to “be above board in your business and commercial relation”.
“Given the ongoing trend of globalization of the profession, the increasing sophistication of audit processes, evidence gathering, the rising demand for integrity, transparency in governance, there is the need for us to be amenable to changes in our domain of operation,” he said.
