My Audit Trip

"God bless our homeland Ghana, and make our nation Great and Strong." God has indeed blessed Ghana in good measure. The rest is really up to us; and if we fail to reach our "great and strong" status in spite of all that's available to us, then perhaps we have lived in a sea of disillusioned illusions.

As a young Chartered Accountant with Deloitte, I had an assigned task of reporting on the truth, fairness or otherwise of the State Construction Company. With a financial audit, one of the key things you preserve is the internal control procedures and the preservation of the assets of the company.

My task in 2012 was to look at the purchases of the company and give an audit opinion. There is a procedure for doing this and I went through the paces. Now, most importantly, you look for requisite authorized signatures, payment vouchers, copies of cheques, bank statements and evidence of payment for contracts etc. But this is not an audit lesson, so here is the point. I had a dilemma, becuase in my sample was a set of imported snow tires from Russia. No documents to cover the purchase, but a payment to suppliers for delivery. Curious about when we would be able to use snow tires, I expanded my work to include any orders made from this supplier. It was a messy affair.

As I was returning from my trip to report my findings to my manager, I had a cause to bemoan my country. I wondered whether at 56 we have grown older without really growing up. Folks, you have to see the Galamsey pollution across the Western Region. No drama. We are in the most devastating ecological mess of our time. The forest is dying, the contaminated rivers are drying out, silted and slurred with chemicals that have decapitated tree tops even as they stand I the groud. You virtually see and feel the pollution as you drive through the attempts to complete the highways from Ayanfuri to Tarkwa and Takoradi and the roads cannot be any worse. We built the roads, tarred them and then left them to pothole away, not caring that a good road network will encourage economic activity between districts. From Ho, across the Adomi bridge finding my way through un-marked highways and streets, you need a driver who has passed by a few times to guide you to the next town. My four-trip opened my eyes to the impossibilities. And I ask myself, when politicians are putting up their posters and signboards, do they see what I saw? Clearly we are pointing in the wrong directio, and God help us.