Sanctions Await Auditors for Late/Non Submission of Reports

Accountant General of the Federation(AGF) Alhaji Ahmed Idris has warned Heads of Internal Audits of Ministries Departments and Agencies(MDAs) that henceforth, sanctions await violators of late and non-submission of reports as and when due.

The AGF handed the warning Wednesday in Abuja at a webinar and virtual meeting organised
for Directors and Heads of Internal Audits of MDAs.

According to him, a large number of government agencies had in the past wilfully refused to render reports which run counter to financial regulations.

“Regrettably, it has been observed that most MDAs are behind in their reports while others have wilfully refused to render these reports which are clear violation of the provision of the Financial Regulations”.

“Consequently, may I inform you that refusal to forward these reports by any MDA forthwith would be regarded as an attempt to undermine the authority of the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation and the Head of Internal Audit of such defaulting MDA(s) will be duly sanctioned”.

He reiterated on the need for Auditors to put in their reports promptly as and when due as specified by FR 1706 which states thus: “The Internal Auditor shall produce monthly, quarterly and half-yearly reports for the Accounting Officer on the progress of the audit with copies to the Accountant-General of the Federation and Auditor-General for the Federation” respectively”.

He also said that the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation in 2020, as part of the Public Financial Management Reforms, engaged a Consultant (Cowater International Inc.) with the objective of Modernizing the Internal Audit Function in the Public Sector and with the view of recommending measures to increase professional performance of Internal Auditors in accordance with Internationally recognized best practices.

Some of the recommendations of the Consultants, according to him include enhancing the effectiveness of internal audit functions and establishment of a professional cadre within the Public Service for Internal Auditors as against the current practice.

He revealed that significant progress has een made towards the audit modernization project in the following areas:-

 Trainings of Audit Monitoring Department staff to assist in training other Internal Auditors on Computer Assisted Audit Techniques (CAAT);

 The establishment of an audit Data capturing centre with a view to securing an interface with the IPPIS and GIFMIS Platforms through which transaction can be viewed online-real-time. For this purpose, 20 numbers laptops and 20 desktops computers have being acquired;

 Approval have also being granted for the acquisition of five (5) numbers of Interactive Data Extract Analysis (IDEA) software Licences that would be used by the Audit Monitoring Department and deployed to some Pilot Agencies that indicate interest to acquire the software.

He noted fhat the IDEA software is a computer based file interrogation tool that can be used by numerous individuals and organisations including auditors, accountants, investigators and IT staff.

“It analyses data in multiple ways and allows for extraction, sampling and manipulation of data in order to identify errors, problems, specific issues and trends”, he said.

He said it was in continuation of the Audit Modernization project that the audit Monitoring department is organising this interactive/sensitization session to bring to the knowledge of all Internal Auditors about the IDEA software, since it is meant to be deployed service-wide, adding that Audit Modernization is a key component of the Economic Reform and Governance Project. It is upgrading the level of audit from current practices to a level where audits are conducted in line with international best practices, using modern approach and information and communication technologies.

He further observed that the deployment of the IDEA software would enhance and optimise the internal control environment, and encouraged all MDAs concerned to key into this project by acquiring this software so as to speed-up the Internal Audit functions Modernization.