The University of Ghana (UG) has debunked claims of irregularities in the Auditor-General's recent payroll audit report.

The report indicated that the university overstated employee compensation by GH¢59.2 million.

Speaking on behalf of university management, UG's Acting Deputy Internal Auditor, Prof. Samuel Simpson, dismissed the claims as misleading and lacking proper context.

• Read also: UG overstated its employee compensations by GH¢59.2m between 2022 and 2024 – Auditor General’s Report

In an interview with Myjoyonline, he explained that "the numbers alone don't tell the full story."

"There are processes and engagements behind these figures that the Auditor-General's report fails to capture. To suggest the university overstated employee compensation is simply incorrect."

The university maintains that what auditors flagged as "overstatements" were actually legitimate uses of internally generated funds (IGF) to supplement government payroll allocations.

Prof. Simpson provided this example: "Let's say, if government of Ghana decides to say that, look, I can pay for two staff of the University of Ghana, but the University of Ghana needs, let's say, five staff to teach so they can give quality to our clients, that is, students."

"And the University of Ghana decides to use its own IGF to take care of the extra three, do you call that savings? It is not savings. Is it an offense for a university to be transparent to say that, look, government of Ghana, this is how much you have planned to pay this number of staff but through our own initiatives, we've been able to mobilize IGF and we say that look for us to be able to deliver this kind of service. Clearly see how much we have set aside to take care of the rest that you are supposed to do as a state, and that is considered to be payroll fraud? As I said, the university management will issue a response to that effect,” he told Myjoyonline.com.

Prof Simpson stressed that the university had properly documented all such expenditures.

"There are a lot of things that the auditor’s report doesn’t capture. The processes, the engagement that goes through, where it starts from and where it gets through, there is no way that the university engaged in any payroll fraud as is kind of alleged in this release, suggesting that the university has overstated employee compensation.”

Prof. Simpson added that UG management will release an official statement regarding this position soon.

Meanwhile, the Auditor General's report covers broader financial recoveries based on recommendations from 2020 to 2023 reports, including disallowances and payroll savings up to December 31, 2024.

Overall, the Auditor-General flagged GH¢38.9 billion for recovery, but only GH¢12.7 billion, about 32.6%, has been retrieved.