PAC flags GH¢5.2bn financial irregularities in 2025 audit report

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) in Ghana has expressed alarm over financial irregularities totaling GH¢5.2 billion uncovered in the 2025 audit report, with GH¢4.8 billion of those irregularities being tax-related. PAC Chairperson Abena Osei-Asare stated at the recent committee meeting that these tax infractions have raised questions about the effectiveness of the country's tax authorities.

The committee intends to inquire into the actions taken by the relevant authorities to address these issues and explore whether sufficient remedial measures have been implemented.

Osei-Asare expressed concern over the repetition of similar audit findings concerning public institutions across different years. She emphasized that a recurring pattern of same institutions being cited for the same control failures suggests that past audit recommendations have not yielded the desired corrective actions. The committee believes that when the same institution is repeatedly flagged for the same issue, it indicates a failure to learn from previous mistakes.

This repeated occurrence of audit findings extends beyond mere audit flaws; it reflects a broader failure by ministries, departments, and agencies to address identified weaknesses adequately.

In response to these recurring issues, the PAC plans to adopt a new approach in its interactions with institutions that have been previously cited in audit reports. The committee expects auditees, i.e., the institutions under scrutiny, to demonstrate concrete improvements resulting from past audit findings. Osei-Asare urged these institutions to clarify the specific changes they have made following previous audit recommendations, stressing that the committee seeks tangible evidence of improvement.