Auditor-General finds financial and administrative irregularities in UG’s books

The 2021 Auditor-General’s Report has revealed some irregularities in the management of the University of Ghana.

According to the report, “out of the total amount of GH¢25,843,084.74 reported in the financial statements as students’ fees receivable, an amount of GH¢2,549,366.12 is owed by 700 students who were not in the active students list for the 2018/2019 and 2019/2020 academic years.”

The Auditor-General said it, “also noted some weaknesses in the management of students’ fees receivable.”

It therefore, “recommended that the Director of Finance should ensure the development of ageing reports on students’ receivables and investigate the total amount of GH¢3,407,815.63 assigned to the unknown students.”

The report further noted that, “bank confirmation conducted during the audit disclosed that 18 separated staff continue to be on the approved signatories of the University’s bank accounts. We recommended that the Director of Finance should liaise with all Provosts, Deans and Directors to conduct a review of all bank accounts signatories and ensure that all separated staff are excluded from mandatory/optional signatory list.”

Another finding made by the Auditor-General was in respect of lands owned by the University.

“We noted from the University landed register that out of the thirty-eight (38) parcels of land, only eleven (11) were duly supported with Land Title/Conveyance Deeds leaving twenty-seven (27) outstanding,” the report revealed.

The A-G thus recommended that, ”the Registrar should ensure that the Director of PDMS is provided with financial resources to register all the assigned lands of the University.“

The University has numerous halls and facilities that are rented out for public use. It has emerged from the Auditor-General’s report that the management of these facilities leaves much to be desired.

“The University does not have a comprehensive framework or policy for the hiring and use of its facilities. The facilities are currently being operated under the discretion and control of the respective College, School, Directorate or Unit. To enhance mobilization from non-core income generating sources, we recommended that the Registrar and the Director of Finance should develop a comprehensive framework or policy on the hiring and use of the University’s facilities for the consideration of the Council,” a portion of  the report read.

With regard to information management, the Auditor-General found out that data recovery plans do not exist.

“We noted that the University did not have a baseline continuity and disaster recovery plans established, specific college procedures and the University’s financial and academic management information systems. We recommended that the Chief Information Technology Officer should develop Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Plans to ensure that all critical information systems can be recovered within a required timeframe,” the Auditor-General reported.