SOE’s directed to submit audited financial statement by May 15 or face sanctions

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has asked all State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) to submit their 2023 audited financial statements latest by 15th May or face sanctions.

Cautioning that, the directive should not be taken lightly, the President said the Public Financial Management Act (PFMA), mandates the submission of audited financial statements of specified entities to the State Interest and Governance Authority (SIGA), by the end of April each year.

He bemoaned the delays in the preparation and publication of State Ownership Report (SOR,) which had mainly been for the non-compliance of public entities to submit their financial statements to SIGA.

President Akufo-Addo issued the directive at the opening of the 2024 annual Policy and Governance Forum organised by the Ministries of Public Enterprises and the Ministry of Finance in collaboration with State Interest and Governance Authority (SIGA) and the Public Service Commission.

These financial statements, the President maintained “are central to the preparation of the State Ownership Report, and that board chairs of all specified entities and all cabinet approved list of entities are expected to submit their audited accounts and financial statements to SIGA by 15 May 2024.

The Policy and Governance Forum is an annual event Initiated in 2018 as part of measures taken to translate into reality the government’s vision to transform and leverage the potential of Public Enterprises to contribute meaningfully to national development.

This year’s (2024) forum was on the theme: “Maximising benefits from State Interests through effective Corporate Governance” and was attended by heads of all SOEs, members of the Diplomatic Corps and Development Partners.

Two (2) policy documents dubbed; “the State Ownership Policy and the Code of Corporate Governance” which aims at shaping the governance of Ghana’s Public Enterprises were also launched at the event.

President Akufo-Addo emphasised that his government over the years had taken measures to enhance transparency and accountability in the governance and management of public enterprises to ensure that they delivered on their mandate and contribute to the national economy.

That, as part of the government’s measures, SIGA was mandated to prepare the State Ownership Report (SOR) which serves as amongst others, accountability and transparency document and offered government and the public access to information on the financial and non-financial performances of public enterprises.

The 2023 SOR, according to President Akufo-Addo will be the first to be published under the Public Financial Management for Service Delivery Programme and it is expected to be completed and published on/or before 31st August 2024.

He warned that “Failure to achieve this target will affect adversely in terms of our financing arrangements with the World Bank.”

With funding from the World Bank to finance the public management for service delivery program, the public enterprises secretariat in collaboration with SIGA and the Public Investments and Assets Division of the Ministry of Finance, are working to ensure timely report reporting of public enterprises performance,”

“The 2020 SOR was published in March 2022, the 2021 SOR was published in January 2024 this year. The 2022 SOR is now at the final stages of completion. We should not tolerate these delays any further,” he warned.

President Akufo-Addo also tasked the Director General of SIGA to furnish him with the list of all specified entities who had not complied with his directive by 31st May 2024.

On his part, the Minister of Public Enterprises, Joseph Ato Cudjoe explained that the theme for this year’s forum fully captured the essence of government’s determination to improve corporate governance and operational efficiencies of state institutions.

He said the time for the forum was right as it witnessed the launching of a document on the state ownership policy and code of corporate governance for specified entities.

Mr Cudjoe explained that the two (2) policy documents launched would addressed two drivers of corporate performance which are effective management and corporate governance issues.

Source: Norvanreports