The Federal Government has hired 18 professional audit companies to carry out a forensic audit of its agencies to access true state of their revenue generation. Accountant-General of the Federation (AGF), Mr. Ahmed Idris, said the audit process would cover the period of 2010 to 2015, and would be completed in 18 months. Idris said that the audit would also cover capital, personnel and overhead expenditure across all Federal Government’s Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).

Addressing the consultants selected to handle the task at an interactive session yesterday in Abuja, the AGF, represented by the Director of Funds, Alhaji Salau Zubairu, said the audit would aid the Federal Government in arriving at better decisions, in view of the dwindling inflow of government revenue.

He said the first phase of the assignment was divided into two categories and will involve 33 agencies. Category A comprises eight agencies with a turnover of above N100 billion and category B involves 25 agencies with a turnover of below N100 billion.

The AGF said some of the terms of reference given to the consultants was to review the sources of revenues accruing to the organisations and the effectiveness of revenue generation and accounting. Some of the terms of reference given the consultants for the audit process include, to: Undertake a critical review of the financial statements of the organisations over the last five years, confirm the sources and quantum of funding received from government, whether loans, subventions or grants and reconcile with treasury records; study in detail the enabling laws establishing the organisations with a view to identifying possible constraints and areas of improvement; and determine the amount of remittances made to the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) over the last five years in the form of operating surplus and revenue dividends.

Also, the consultants are to determine the extent of compliance with extant regulations regarding the adequacy and regularity of remittances to the CRF;and identify all income and interest thereon and make adequate recommendations on the future management of the organisations.

Ahmed said the consultants were to establish the cost of operations and make appropriate recommendations to understand real personnel cost and cost associated with revenue collection or revenue sharing arrangement. He assured the consultants of the support and assistance of the OAGF in discharging their duties. He said however, that their activities would be closely monitored by experienced staff of the OAGF to ensure that ”government gets value for money”.