News Update

As part of its stakeholder engagement initiative, the NAO commenced a series of engagements with select auditees on audit matters. The objectives of the engagements are to have an open dialogue with the respective auditees on the audit challenges in the conduct of the audits, the roles and responsibilities of auditors and auditees, critical audit findings and recurring audit findings reported by the AG, as well as increasing the understanding of auditees on the audit process, mandate of the NAO and functions of the Auditor General.

The first engagement was held with projects audited by the NAO held on September 12th, 2024, followed by independent public institutions (such as IEC, Ombudsman, NHRC, Judiciary and the National Assembly Service Authority) held on September 18th, 2024.

Other key stakeholders who participated in the interactions by virtue of their roles were National Assembly Members from the respective committees, the Accountant General’s Department, Directorate of Internal Audit, Directorate of Public Finance Management and the GPPA.

Some of the issues that surfaced in both sessions relate to:

• The need for increased coordination between the NAO and Internal Audit directorate to address the duplication of work and audit fatigue on the auditees.
• The country needs to have a clarified standard reporting framework for public institutions to address the issue having institutions within the same sector but using different accounting frameworks for reporting.
• The need to clear the audit backlog to ensure audit reports of public institutions are up to date
• The need for hands-on training for public officers in the preparation of financial statements
• The need for the alignment of laws to avoid inconsistencies and contradictions between different legislations
• The need for concerted efforts in implementing audit recommendations
• The Project auditees requested for a review of the Withholding Tax as it poses challenges for donors.