Auditor-general: Citizens are unaware of the importance of audit institutions

Anthony Ayine, the auditor-general of the federation, says citizens do not understand the importance of supreme audit institutions (SAI), especially in developing countries.

While presenting a paper at the ninth edition of the just concluded International Public Sector Conference, Ayine attributed this problem to years of weak auditing.

The conference, which held in Prague, Czech Republic was organised by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants.

“Years of weak auditing cause the average citizen to be unaware of the value and importance of the SAI as an institution that is central to the accountability cycle,” the auditor general, who was one of the lead speakers, said.

“There is a need for the citizens to participate more and become better aware of the role of the SAI.”

Advising auditors to see social media as a key channel of information dissemination, he advised SAIs to be careful so as not to get the institution involved in public debates adding that the key question remains ‘how vocal should SAI be on social media?’.

Speaking further, Ayine said SAIs can also help with the implementation of the sustainable development goals (SDGs) by tracking government commitment and giving recommendations.

“SAIs can baseline, benchmark and track progress across the various institutions responsible for delivery of the government’s commitment under each SDG,” he explained.

“SAIs can also invest in their capacity to give expert recommendations to these key institutions and reports should be timely and the possible efficiency savings or gains should be clear

“Year-on-year audits by the SAIs will help maintain the focus on achieving the SGDs and will help ensure that improvements that are achieved are sustained.”