PAC raises alarm over GH¢5.2bn financial irregularities in 2025 audit report

Parliament's Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has raised alarms over financial irregularities totaling GH¢5.2 billion highlighted in the 2025 audit report, with a significant portion of GH¢4.8 billion being tax-related infractions. Committee Chairperson Abena Osei-Asare emphasized the necessity of scrutinizing the scale of these tax infractions to ascertain if the relevant tax authorities have taken adequate measures to rectify the issues.

During a meeting on October 6, she stated that the PAC would be demanding explanations on the actions taken to recover or remedy the identified irregularities. "We see a reported financial irregularity of five point two billion. But the most alarming thing is the tax infraction of four point eight billion," she remarked. Osei-Asare explained that the Committee would be engaging the relevant tax authorities to understand their response to the audit findings and the measures they have implemented to prevent further losses.

She also expressed concern over the recurrence of similar audit findings involving public institutions, stating that repeated infractions by the same institutions raised questions about the effectiveness of previous audit recommendations. Ms. Osei-Asare pointed out that when an institution is cited repeatedly for the same weaknesses in its financial controls, it is no longer just an audit finding but a failure to learn.

She added that the Committee would adopt a more results-oriented approach in its engagements with institutions cited in audit reports, expecting auditees to demonstrate specific changes made in response to previous audit findings.