By James Emejo in Abuja
The Accountant-General of the Federation (AGF), Mr. Ahmed Idris has advocated for quarterly audit of ministries, departments and agencies of government (MDAs) in order to make their duties simple and easy to tackle when financial reports are received.
He said this will also create cooperation, understanding and harmonious working relationship between federal auditors and MDAs.
The AGF further opined that in order to curb the pile up of financial reports for auditing, the Office of the Auditor General for the Federation (OAuGF) should carry out quarterly audit of the MDAs as well as renew orientation on the concept and practice of auditing.
Speaking when he received the Auditor-General of the Federation (AuGF), Mr. Adolphus Aghughu, who paid him a working visit, Idris further pointed out that it was high time the country adopted modern auditing techniques with ICT tools to makes auditing quicker and most accurate.
He said auditors are not on a witch-hunt mission, but are to advice and give positive opinion, adding that this would reduce the embarrassment that accounting officers of MDAs receive in public accounts meetings.
In a statement by Director, Information, Press and Public Relations, Mr. Henshaw Ogubike, the AGF noted that both sister agencies have a similar mandate, stressing that, “we cannot have audit without accounts and we must sustain the cordial relationship for the good of the nation.”
Furthermore, on the submission of financial statement for Audit, Idris said his office has been able to reduce the four years gap of non-submission to only one.
He said: “As at today, the accounts for the 2019 are ready for submission, except for the fact that we have been asked to wait till work is concluded on the 2018 report.”
He urged Aghughu to sustain the cordial relationship that existed between the gencies which he said is for the good of his office and the system; the good of the Nigerian people and the good of the Nigerian government.
Earlier, the AuGF thanked Idris for his support and encouragement before and after his appointment.
He solicited for strong collaboration between the Treasury Audit Department of his office and the Consolidated Accounts Department of OAGF in order to timely resolve issues that may cause delay in the completion of work on financial statements.
