Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has raised concerns over GH¢5.2 billion in financial irregularities recorded in the 2025 audit report, with GH¢4.8 billion of the amount attributed to tax infractions.
The Committee says the scale of the GH¢4.8 billion tax infractions requires urgent answers from the relevant tax authorities on what action has been taken to address the findings.
Abena Osei-Asare, the PAC Chairperson, said the Committee would scrutinise the tax-related findings and seek explanations on measures taken to remedy the irregularities.
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“We see a reported financial irregularity of five point two billion. But the most alarming thing is the tax infraction of four point eight billion,” she said.
The concerns were raised as the PAC began examining findings contained in the 2025 Auditor-General’s reports. The Auditor-General’s reports are subject to parliamentary scrutiny as part of efforts to strengthen accountability and public financial management.
Beyond the GH¢5.2 billion financial irregularities, the Public Accounts Committee is also concerned about the recurrence of similar audit findings involving public institutions.
According to Osei-Osei-Asare, repeated findings against the same institutions raise questions about whether previous audit recommendations have resulted in meaningful corrective action.
“If the same institution is cited repeatedly for the same control failure, then we are no longer dealing with just audit findings; we are dealing with a failure to learn,” she said.
The PAC Chairperson said the Committee would therefore take a closer look at what institutions have done after being cited in previous audit reports.
She noted that institutions appearing before the Committee should be prepared to demonstrate concrete changes made in response to earlier audit findings.
“So that is what auditees should be telling us. What changed or what has changed as a result of the audit?” she said.
The approach is intended to move the PAC’s scrutiny beyond explanations of individual audit findings and towards establishing whether public institutions have implemented recommendations and strengthened their internal controls.
The GH¢4.8 billion tax infractions have emerged as a major concern for the Committee because of their size and the need to establish how the relevant authorities have responded.
Osei-Asare said the PAC would seek answers on the measures taken to remedy the tax-related findings and prevent similar issues from recurring.
The Committee’s concerns come amid broader efforts by Parliament and the Auditor-General to ensure that audit recommendations are followed through and that weaknesses in public financial management are addressed.
The Ghana Audit Service recently engaged the PAC on the 2025 Auditor-General’s reports, emphasising the need for effective follow-up on recommendations contained in the reports.
For the PAC, the latest findings reinforce the need for public institutions to demonstrate not only that they have responded to audit queries but also that they have taken steps to prevent the same control weaknesses from appearing in subsequent reports.