The Ministry of Finance has announced it will investigate 16 State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) for their failure to submit audited financial statements for the last two years (2015 & 2016).
According to Section 95 of the Public Financial Management Act (PFMA), the SOEs are mandated to submit their audited Financial Statements to the Minister of Finance not later than four months after each financial year.
Hence, the anomaly is a violation of the PFMA 2016 (Act 921).
The disclosure contained in the annual aggregate report from the Ministry of Finance revealed that as of May 31st 2017, only two out of the 18 State-Owned Enterprises in the country had submitted their 2016 audited financial statements.
They are Ghana Reinsurance Company and Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD).
The report cited Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation (BOST), Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), Ghana Ports and Harbors Authority (GPHA), Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) and PSC Tema Shipyard as not completing the audit of their 2015 financial statements as of June 30th, 2017.
In addition, some SOEs were identified for partial disclosure of financial information. They included VRA and GNPC.
Commenting on the development Deputy Minister of Finance, Kwaku Kwarteng said the Ministry will look into each specific case to find out why they flouted the law.
The Ministry will sanction persons found to have failed to ensure the audited accounts were submitted, he added.