By Kebba AF Touray
The audit report of the Accord Associates on the financial transactions of the Gambia Groundnut Corporation (GGC), now called National Food Security Processing and Marketing Corporation (NFSPMC), has exposed fragilities at the internal audit Department of the corporation.
The fragilities were exposed during the appearance of the corporation’s officials before the Public Enterprise Committee (PEC) of the National Assembly, for the presentation of the institution’s activity report and financial statements.
The auditors, however, reported that despite the fragilities, the financial statements present the financial position of the entity and its financial performance for its cash flows for the year that ended.
The financial statements are in accordance with the requirements of the Company’s Act 2013 on generally accepted accounting principles.
The auditors raised several points, including the low risks, medium risks, and high risks in the report of the auditors on the corporation’s financial statements.
One such issue is regarding the issue of control, particularly the internal audit activity issue, which the auditors rated as high risk.
The auditors observed that the Internal Audit Department provided their work plan for the year under review, however, “we noted that not all the activities in the work plan were covered, as 75 percent of the plan activities were not covered.”
“The number of plan activities was four, and out of that, only one was done, as indicated in the report,” said the auditors.
The auditors stressed that the implication is that an Audit Department with only one out of four of the reports planned throughout the year, shows a high level of weakness in the control system and a lack of adequate efforts by those charged with governance.
“This weakness could affect the company’s ability to achieve its objective,” the auditors expressed.
The auditors recommended that the management of the corporation ensure that the internal audit unit fulfills its responsibilities adequately.
“They should also ensure that the Internal Audit Department performs all the activities approved in the annual audit work plan,” auditors recommended further.
Another issue highlighted by the auditors is the inadequate staff capacity in the internal audit unit of the corporation, which it notes is a high-risk issue. They added that the whole internal audit department is operated by two individual staff (a junior staff), who were unable to exhaust all the activities of the work plan during the year under review.
This, as indicated by the auditors, was due to a lack of manpower within the unit of the corporation.
“The implication is that lack of adequate manpower at the internal audit department can lead to inefficient work, lack of exhausting the activities of the work plan, and segregation of duties cannot be attained,” the auditors expressed.
They recommended management to ensure that suitable recruitment is done, enhance the capacity of the internal audit department, and ensure effective and efficient delivery of work.
Management on the weakness, responded: “Management noted the concern raised regarding the non-completion of the work plan. However, it should be noted that the internal audit department has provided effective pre-audit engagement, in line with the corporation’s financial reforms strategy.”
“We are committed to strengthening our audit functions, by reinforcing the governance frameworks and ensuring adequate resource allocation,” management added.
Expressing concern about inadequate staff capacity in the internal audit unit of the corporation, the management replied that a new internal audit manager was recently hired to strengthen leadership and oversight of the department.
“There are plans to recruit additional staff for the unit,” said the corporation’s management.
