Accra, 5th April 2022.

The Minster for Finance, Hon. Ken Ofori-Atta has cautioned Heads of Specified Entities about sanctions for failure to submit their management and financial reports.

He said, “failure to honour financial reporting obligations is in violation of the Public Financial Management Act, 2016 (Act 921) and there are provisions in the Act that gives the Minister appropriate sanctioning powers to deal with matters of non-compliance”.

Hon. Ofori-Atta made this known at a meeting with Board Chairpersons and Chief Executive Officers (CEO) of all Specified Entities to discuss issues of compliance, particularly relating to management accounts and audited financial accounts at Alisa Hotel today.

The minister said, “In terms of reporting obligations for our Specified Entities, our analysis of the 2020 Report (State Ownership Report) suggests that only seventy-seven (77) SEs out of the one hundred and thirty-two (132) entities submitted audited financials. Of particular concern is the fact that the vast majority of these 77 entities submitted their financial performance for analysis after the deadline. So essentially, most SEs failed to honour their reporting obligations, a flagrant violation of the Public Financial Management (PFM) Act, 2016 (Act 921). This is a most unfortunate development that needs to be remedied’’.

He charged Heads and Board chairpersons of the SEs to work hard to ensure their reports are submitted in time to enable government deliver on its mandate to the citizens. “We are at a crucial point in our development trajectory that demands we do things differently and are guided by a collective responsibility to deliver efficiency across our public services’’ the Minister said.

In his concluding remarks he called on the participants at the meeting to endeavour to contribute towards developing the country by doing well to meet the targeted 30% quota to GDP by SOEs.