The President for the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA), Mrs. Juliet Aboagye-Wiafe have indicated that the Institute will by the end of this year, present to parliament a draft bill which will give it legal backing when passed into law.
In an interview at the 2019 annual internal audit and governance conference, dubbed; “Aligning governance, risk management and compliance for institutional impact,” Aboagye-Wiafe stated that the institute has already been registered under the Ghana Professional Bodies Act, and would soon be registered under the Companies Act as a Company Limited by Guarantee.
“From there, we are going to move on to submit the draft bill to parliament,” Aboagye-Wiafe said.
As part of efforts to enhance public financial management, measures are underway to restructure and re-engineer the practice of Internal Auditing in the country.
This is expected to help align the activities of Internal Auditing to national financial priorities and strategies set by the Finance Ministry.
Players in the sector have indicated that the Internal Audit function in the public sector is being practised more as an operations function in organisations, rather than as a third line of defence, as it should and is also narrowed down to only financial controls and compliance functions.
Late last year, it was announced that as part of a strategic focus by the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) Global, the country is expected to implement a three-year project aimed at building up the Internal Auditing profession.
The three-year project would be implemented through the Institute of Internal Auditors Ghana, the local chapter of the global professional body, with funding released annually based on the success of the previous year’s activities.
A study conducted by the World Bank for IIA Global, indicated that while the Internal Audit profession was at a matured level in other parts of the world, such as the United States of America and Europe, it was at initial and emerging levels in Africa, thus the need to invest in developing the profession further.
Conference
Aboagye-Wiafe said the theme for this year’s conference has been selected to equip participants with forward looking topics as well as provide discussions sessions that would assist them make relevant decisions and also ensure success in their organization.
By Joshua W. Amlanu
