Fifty five internal auditors from the Judicial Service have undergone a training workshop in Accra to equip them with the requisite skills for forensic investigation to safeguard the service from internal threats, such as fraud and misconduct.
It was organised by Makers and Partners (MAP), a chartered accountancy firm, and supported by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) Ghana Chapter.
The participants were taken through the details of effective planning of an investigation, practical and useful skills for evidence gathering and preservation using the appropriate techniques, and tools including adequate documentation of procedures performed to obtain evidence.
In his presentation, Mr Wilfred Neneh Addico, an expert in forensic investigation, touched on the need for the Internal Audit Function to create channels for people to report, including anonymous reporting; this he said would help deal with fraud in the service.
He mentioned that a research conducted by ACFE across companies in the world revealed that about 46 per cent of fraud cases were identified through tip-offs and whistleblowing.
Mr Addico, who was the facilitator of the workshop, emphasised that this would enable fraud related issues come to their attention for them to address it, not just to deal with the issue of probability but to improve internal controls.
He further stated that usually fraudsters were able to commit crime by overriding controls, or in an environment where the controls were absent or completely broken down; they exploited it to their advantage.
Mr Alfred Aryee, a partner at Makers and Partners (MAP), said the gesture was to build capacity and give free training, by organising refresher courses on the new things happening in the space of forensic audit.
“We are empowering state owned agencies to build their internal audit department to help fight fraud related cases.”
BY BENEDICTA GYIMAAH FOLLEY
