By S. Siapha Mulbah
Finance Minister Samuel Tweah has called it a new era for governance in the country as the Internal Audit Agency and partners launch the public sector compliance scorecard along with the Pentana Audit Software.
He said from the birth of Liberia’s integrity, institutions had been challenged with auditing activities which had made it difficult to pursue good and effective governance.
According to him, with the launch of the Public Sector compliance scorecard, there will be more efforts to ensure that public officials at various institutions double up their gains in order to get better scores when serving in public offices.
Minister Tweah intimated that during the President’s State of the Nation Address, he talked about challenging integrity institutions to use innovations to carry on their respective functions, actually meaning that programs like the new scorecard and the auditing software be developed.
“All along, auditors have had serious problems with conducting manual audits. Sometimes it is difficult to even successfully complete one audit when the informations to the auditors are misplaced in the process, so this means that the actual digital process using the software will promote transparency in getting response developmental rewards,” he said.
Tweah lauded the Internal Audit Agency for being the fastest anti-graft institution to respond to the President’s challenge tossed to them on issues of constant complaints for low funding or poor budgetary allotment.
He noted as the IAA been the first institution considered for auditing in the country, the CDC-led government will commit to continue to support and subsequently more budgetary allotment in order to improve on the fight for transparency.
Minister Tweah also extended thanks to the World Bank for funding the Pentana Audit Software, promising to spread the message, ensuring that all government institutions feel the impact of digital auditing.
“These are some of the things we expected and we knew they were lacking from the IAA before the appointment of the new management team that is doing so well,” he praised calling on other integrity institutions to limit dependence on public funding by using innovations to attract development partners.
He indicated that if anti-graft institutions continue to depend on national budget, the credibility in the work they do, could be questioned by the public.
Minister Tweah made the remarks at the Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Ministerial Complex in Congo Town when he launched the IAA scorecard and Pentana Audit Software.
IAA Director General David Kemah disclosed that the scorecard will be a tool to provide feedback on low performance and identify areas of non-compliance in all sectors of the country.
He said the feedback from the process will influence the decision of areas to concentrate in internal control functions in the public sector.
According to Kemah, the move is intended to follow the directives of the Liberian leader to develop innovative ways to improve low performance and non-compliance in the public sector.
“Pentana Audit Software funded by the World Bank will transform internal auditing in government as it is used to transition from the manual method to an automated, digitized, cloud-based and modern software,” he disclosed.
Meanwhile, the Internal Audit Agency also conducted a recognition of 177 auditors who went through an intensive four-week training to enhance their capacity-building as they begin to use the new audit method during the discharge of their duties.
The Director General disclosed that the training is going to be followed by a rotation of auditors assigned at public sector entities to promote objectivity.
