Audit Service steps up efforts to recover public funds

The Ghana Audit Service is introducing a new electronic tracker to monitor the progress of audit recommendations, with the aim of ensuring corrective action and the recovery of public funds. This initiative, unveiled at the launch of the 2026 Financial Year Audit, seeks to increase accountability oversight in public institutions and build public trust through collaboration and action.

Dr Pamela Graham, the Auditor-General, revealed that the Audit Recommendations Tracker would be launched next month. This tool will enable the Audit Service, the Public Accounts Committee, and the public to track the status of recommendations in audit reports. It will display which recommendations have been implemented, those still outstanding, the reasons for delays, and the recoverable amounts identified, pursued, and recovered.

Additionally, the tracker will provide details on corrective, administrative, and disciplinary measures taken where applicable.

The initiative is one of five pillars guiding the 2026 audit cycle, which include continuous engagement, timeliness, technology, people, and impact. Dr Graham emphasized that an audit report should initiate action rather than mark the end of the accountability process. In the previous year, the Ghana Audit Service audited over 7,000 institutions and generated 21 reports for Parliament.

So far, the Service has recovered GH¢17.6 billion and prevented the country from making wrongful payments as of August 2026. The Auditor-General urged stakeholders to ensure that audit findings led to action, stressing her commitment to exercising constitutional powers of disallowance and surcharge when necessary.