By Sarauniya g Usman, Abuja
Accountant-General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris has warned that any refusal to forward audited 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.
It was also disclosed that the Head of Internal Audit of such defaulting MDA(s) will be duly sanctioned.
AGF made the warning while making his opening remarks at the zoom virtual meeting with Directors/Heads
of Internal Audit of MDAS Today in Abuja
Idris stated that on the need for Auditors to put in their reports promptly as at 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.
“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”, he said.
He encouragedvall MDAs concerned to key into this project by acquiring this software so as to speed-up the Internal Audit functions Modernisation.
He said trainings of Audit Monitoring Department staff will go a long way to assist in training other Internal Auditors on Computer Assisted Audit Techniques (CAAT).
He said, 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.
Idris said,as part of the Public Financial Management Reforms, OAGF
had engaged a Consultant (Cowater International Inc.) with the objective of Modernising 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 recognised best practices.
“Some of the recommendations 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”.
According to Him,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.
“I have no doubt that the deployment of the IDEA software would enhance and optimise the internal control environment”.
AGF said the efforts so far made in achieving the Modernisation of the Internal Audit Functions is commendable.
He noted that significant progress have made towards the audit modernisation project in the following areas:-
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.
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.
It is in continuation of the Audit Modernisation project that the audit Monitoring department is organising this interactive/sensitisation session to bring to the knowledge of all Internal Auditors about the IDEA software, since it is meant to be deployed service-wide.
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