Counties must strengthen Audit systems to curb graft, PSASB says

Naivasha,

Monday, October 23, 2023

KNA by Erastus Gichohi

The Public Sector Accounting Standard Board [PSASB] has tasked the County Audit Committees to strengthen their internal audit systems and mechanisms to curb misappropriation of public funds.

According to the PSASB chair Pius Nduati, the move seeks to align the counties with the government zero fault audit directive where all pending audit queries must be cleared by June next year.

 Nduati said the board has put in place necessary policies and audit manuals that will guide the county audit committee in resolving all audit queries involving the utilization of public funds.

 Since the inception of devolved units, the Auditor General office has for years raised audit queries running into billions of shillings arising from unsupported use of public funds through recurrent and development expenditures.

The Auditor General has for instance raised key audit queries such as funds used without proper documents such as invoices and vouchers, loss of funds to ghost workers, breaching of procurement laws among others.

Nduati tasked the county audit teams to explore strategies to enhance governance systems of audit systems and align them with international best practices to enhance accountability and transparency of financial resources.

“Efficient internal audit systems are critical towards ensuring prudent management of financial resources and in entrenching good governance and accountability in both national and county governments”, said Nduati.

The Board chair tasked the county audit departments to put in place preventive measures including adoption of technology to ensure all raised audit queries are addressed on time.

On his part, PSASB CEO Fredrick Riaga said all county audit departments must transition from cash accounting systems to accrual accounting in the next three years to enhance accountability in the use of public resources.

Speaking during a sensitization workshop of county audit teams in Naivasha, Riaga said the strengthening of audit systems will mitigate and cushion the public from loss of financial resources.

According to the Head of Audit at the Council of Governors Andrew Musungu, there is a need for continuous training of audit committee members on emerging trends on best practices to ensure proper use of funds.

Musungu said the Council of Governors has partnered with the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission in strengthening governance systems in county governments in order to seal all corruption loopholes.

In addition, Musungu said EACC has continuously helped counties carry out corruption risk assessments, development of policies such as Anti-corruption, whistleblower and conflict of interest policies that have enhanced governance structures.

“Efficient audit systems ensure public resources are prudently utilized in county governments for effective service delivery to Kenyans”, he said.

Courtesy; KNA