SEVENTEEN (17) TECHNICAL STAFF TRAINED ON THE FEATURES OF PROCUREMENT AUDITING

November 2009/Freetown: In its bid to continually improve the capacity of its staff and achieving its goal by following established international standards in auditing, seventeen (17) technical staff have been trained on the purpose and features of Procurement Auditing. The training was geared towards improving the standards of procurement audit and ensuring that the trained auditors in turn will train their colleagues.

The three (3) days training with support from the Department for International Development (DFID) was organised by the Research, Training and Development Division. The training among other issues discussed highlighted the two (2) main purposes of procurement auditing which is to first provide assurance about whether the entity has acted regularly or impropriety in its administration and secondly to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the entity’s internalcontrol systems for preventing and detecting irregularity and impropriety.

During the training, the consultant, Jan-Erik Falth said the training is one of dialogue and sharing of experiences. He admonished participants to know the skills involved in examining internal control systems during auditing. This Mr. Falth noted is a prerequisite for all kinds of auditing.The importance of procurement auditing could not be overemphasised especially when issues on procurement continue to raise public concerns in Sierra Leone. The features of procurement entails reviewing files to ensure appropriate and sufficient actions were taken in procuring items, inspecting the register of financial interests and examining any report of fraud. A pilot procurement audit will be undertaken at the Ministry of health and sanitation.