The Auditor-General’s newest report shows that Public Boards, Corporations, and Other Statutory Institutions (PBCSIs) lost GH¢904.65 million due to tax violations in 2025.
According to the report, tax-related violations accounted for more than GH¢1.24 billion in total anomalies throughout the period, making them the greatest category of financial transgressions.
The research states that the primary cause of the tax irregularities was public institutions’ inability to deduct and send statutory taxes, such as withholding tax, Value Added Tax (VAT), and Pay-As-You-Earn (PAYE), to the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) within the allotted time.
The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) attributed GH¢821.88 million of the total tax breaches to unpaid withholding taxes, VAT, and PAYE.
The report also revealed GH¢153.37 million in contract irregularities, which were mostly caused by payments made for goods that were not delivered and a failure to uphold contractual obligations.
GH¢144.58 million of this sum was directly associated with payments for unfulfilled products and services.
The Auditor-General recommended public institution management to improve contract administration and rigorously enforce contractual commitments in order to protect public resources, attributing these shortcomings to poor contract management and insufficient oversight.
With GH¢167.28 million, store irregularities were the second-highest category.
These were mostly linked to missing components including power meters, transformers, and conductors.
In order to determine the complete scope of the losses, retrieve any lost assets, and penalise those accountable, the study suggested a forensic investigation.
Due to violations of the Public Procurement Act, 2003 (Act 663), as amended, including the purchase of assets beyond their estimated market worth, procurement irregularities reached GH¢12.26 million.
The Auditor-General advocated strict adherence to procurement standards and suggested recovering excess payments from anyone found accountable.
Payroll irregularities also totalled GH¢8.96 million. Weak payroll validation processes, unapproved salary and allowance payments, overpayments, and the payment of salaries to officers who failed to report for duty after being given paid leave were all blamed for these.
The University of Ghana Medical Center overpaid GH¢1.56 million for lunch subsidies, and the Ghana Integrated Iron and Steel Development Corporation (GIISDEC) paid GH¢1.07 million in additional salaries without Ministry of Finance approval, according to the report.
The management of the impacted institutions was urged by the Auditor-General to enhance payroll controls, get the necessary approvals before making further salary payments, and recover all unearned salaries and allowances into the Auditor-General’s Recoveries Account.
In order to stop similar anomalies from happening again and safeguard public funds, the report advised Public Boards, Corporations, and Other Statutory Institutions to strengthen internal controls, adhere to tax, procurement, and public financial management rules, and improve accountability.
Source: newsthemegh.com