The Auditor General has asked the Management of the Accra Digital Centre, an Agency of the Ministry of Communication and Digitalisation, to justify why a debt of GH¢1,087,601.92 has been written off.

The query is contained in the Auditor-General’s report in respect of 2021 dated June 1, 2022 and addressed to the Speaker of Parliament, Mr. Alban Bagbin.

The Auditor-General’s report was compiled pursuant to Section 15 of the Audit Service Act, 2000 (Act 584) which requires that, the Auditor-General examines the Financial Statements of public sector institutions and certify whether, they present fairly, financial information on the accounts in accordance with accounting policies of government and consistent with statements of the preceding year in accordance with best international practices.

According to the report, “A review of the debtor’s record disclosed several irregular write-offs of account receivables totaling GH¢1,087,601.92. “

The Auditors therefore, “recommended that Management should provide justification for the total account receivable write-offs of GH¢1,087,601.92.”

The Auditor-General also uncovered some administrative irregularities.

Uninsured property

“We noted during our review that the Centre’s 9000 square meter property, within which about 40 companies occupy, was not insured. We recommended to the Management to liaise with the Ministry to insure the property as required by the Act without further delay to mitigate the risk posed to lives and property,” parts of the report read.

Procurement without approval

The audit exercise disclosed that, “the Center procured an accounting software called Adroit ERP to help the Center prepare its accounts without approval from the Auditor-General. We recommended that Management should write to the Auditor-General to review and approve the Adroit ERP software.”

4-year outstanding rent

According to the Auditor-General, its review of account receivables for the period "disclosed that rent outstanding for the 4 years continued to increase by an average of 90%.”

They therefore, “recommended that, Management should institute a more workable rent payment regime and enforce same. Also, Management should liaise with the Ministry of Finance to get parliamentary approval for the write-off of the uncollectible debt.”