The Upper East Regional Audit Committees of various health institutions of the Ghana Health Service was at the weekend inaugurated in Bolgatanga, the Regional capital.

The Audit Committee is an important and high-level corporate governance Committee in the Public Finance Management system whose responsibilities add to the effectiveness of public accountability, transparency, operational and financial performance.

The Committee is equally charged with the responsibilities to safeguard and to ensure efficient use of public asset and purse.

Mr Ransford Agyei, the Acting Director-General of the Internal Audit Agency (IAA), in a speech read on his behalf by the Acting Director of Operations of the IAA, Mr Nathan Nankey, said the Committees were inaugurated so that health institutions could fulfill their responsibilities under Section 86 (1) of the Public Financial Management (PFM) Act, 2016 (Act 921).

He said the Committees would ensure compliance of institutions with the PFM Act, the Financial Administration Regulations (FAR) L.I 1802, the Public Procurement Act (PPA), 2003 (Act 663) as amended and all other financial laws and regulations which direct their activities.

Mr Agyei said the formation, membership, roles or functions, reporting and responsibilities of Audit Committees were under Sections 86 to 88 of the PFM Act, and the guidelines for their effective functioning were issued by the Minister of Finance.

He said the Audit Committees were to advise and ensure that health institutions operated very effective risk management practice that provided reasonable assurance to meet its objectives.

“The risk management system should ensure that potential risks are identified, assessed and managed in accordance with the set risk appetite, risk tolerance and risk capacity of the covered entity. It should ensure safety, security and management of the institution’s information systems, assets and effective implementation of policies.”

The Acting Director-General mentioned the expectations of the Minister of Finance, the IAA and the Institute of Chartered Accountants Ghana, from the Audit Committees and management in support of the work of the Internal Audit Units of health institutions.

He said it was expected that the Internal Audit Unit would get resources to enable them execute their mandate, show areas the Internal Audit Unit needed to increase their audit tests, support Internal Audit Units with internal and external trainings to sharpen their skills and knowledge in internal auditing among others.

Mr Eric Boateng Frimpong, the Deputy Director of Internal Audit of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), noted that the formation of Audit Committees in the GHS was a challenge, owing to the size of the service, and expressed delight that the Regions were forming Audit Committees.

He urged the Committees to abide by their responsibilities as clearly stated in the PFM Act.

Dr Winfred Ofosu, the Upper East Regional Director of Health Service, entreated the Committees to work cordially with management of the various institutions to achieve the ultimate objective of improving financial management of the respective health institutions.

“To the management of the various institutions, the work of these audit committees is to our benefit and that of the public in general. Consequently, as beneficiary institutions, we need to make adequate provisions to support the committees in the discharge of their duties.”

“It is our hope that the work of these committees will improve financial accountability and reduce audit observations on the financial management infractions in our institutions to optimize efficiencies for the public good.”

Mr Malcolm Bedzrah, the Bolgatanga Circuit Court Judge, administered the oath of secrecy and oath of office to members of the Committees.