Issue
Audit
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Basic observation
Audit is a process that confirms that an accounting system is working right and the reports are correct.
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Prevailing response
Audit does little more than to provide a check on the accountants, the accounting system, and the financial reporting. It is a limited exercise, and totally unsuited to be used as a substitute for good accounting. Few of the senior people in the relief and development sector seem to understand an audit cannot substitute for good basic systems and analytical accounting. Audit merely confirms that leadership failed to take accounting seriously and did not do its job.
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A better response
The effort being used on audit after the fact should be put into improving the underlying accounting and the routine reporting, both internal and external. Audit should simply ascertain and then certify that everything is OK. If the audit cannot do that, then all responsible leadership within the project, the implementing organizations and the disbursing institutions should be called to account.
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How good is the audit function?
NYTimes.com Article from 2003: U.S. Charges Ernst & Young Ex-Partner in Audit Case
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Open file 3109
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3109
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