Need to build capacity of internal auditors

Accra, Nov 16, GNA - Boards of Directors and Managers of corporate bodies have been asked to periodically build the capacity of their internal auditors to effectively deal with operational loopholes which fraudsters would like to exploit.

Mr Eric Yankah, Vice President of the Institute of Internal Auditors, (IIA) Ghana, made the call on Monday at the opening session of a three-day workshop organized by the Internal Audit Agency in collaboration with the IIA, Ghana for 30 selected auditors from the public sector, in Accra.

The workshop was to provide the participants the opportunity to enhance their internal audit skills as well as to equip them with the ability to recognize key factors essential for top professional and corporate performance.

Mr Yankah expressed worry of the fact that many internal auditors participated in frontline roles in institutional operations and stressed that the participation inhibited the independency of the internal auditor's role in ensuring that good corporate governance practices were upheld.

"Once the internal auditor becomes part of the process, he loses his independence either through negligence or as a result of his own attitude and once that happens, he loses his moral right to serve as a check and a quality assurance to management," he said.

Mr Yankah said internal auditors needed to be treated as persons "whose capacity it is to have an overview of the whole operations of a company" and added that the role would enable them to perform random checks to improve corporate performance.

Mr Patrick Nomo, Director General of the IIA, said the Institute had implemented a programme intended to monitor and strengthen the internal audit function throughout the public sector in the country.

"The programme is focused on monitoring the set up and organizational environment, annual planning and audit reporting activities of the Internal Audit Unit," he said.

Mr Nomo said the agency plans to implement a fully functional Quality Assurance and Improvement Programme that met the Agency's standard of practice and would be used by heads of Audit Units in organizations throughout the country.

Mr Richard Ntim, Secretary of the IIA, Ghana, expressed the hope that participants would be able to apply the International Standards for the professional practice of Internal Auditing on quality assessment review case study that would be presented at the workshop to enhance their professional operations.

"The workshop is expected to help them discover and utilize proven quality assessment tools and techniques and explore the recommended external quality assessment approaches as well as to identify the best approach for their organisation," he said.