President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has directed all state-owned enterprises (SOEs) to furnish their audited financial statements for the fiscal year 2023 no later than May 2024.
Non-compliance with this mandate will result in penalties for the defaulting entities.
This announcement was made during the 2024 annual policy and governance forum for state-owned enterprises, where the president underscored his dedication to ensuring strict adherence to the directive.
The primary objective of the annual policy and governance forum is to evaluate the performance of SOEs during the preceding year, as these entities are integral to supporting the government’s initiatives.
President Akufo-Addo, while launching a corporate governance policy, urged all SOEs to meet the deadline of May 15th for submitting their audited accounts this year.
He said failure to comply would adversely affect financing agreements with international bodies such as the World Bank.
As per the Public Finance Management Act, specified entities are required to submit their audited financial statements by the end of April annually.
The president’s directive aims to tackle delays in submission and enhance the overall efficiency of state-owned enterprises.
“Failure to achieve this target will affect adversely the terms of our financing arrangements with the World Bank. The preparation and publication of SOEs have always suffered delays due to a litany of constraints. Key among them is non-compliance for public entities to the submission of financial statements. In 2020, SOEs were published in March 2022.”
“The 2021 SOE was published in January 2024, this year. The 2022 SOE is now at the final stage of completion. We should not tolerate these delays any further. All board chairs, entities and management teams are hereby instructed to comply fully with the submission requirements from SIGA. The Public Finance Management Act mandates the submission of audited financial statements of specified entities by the end of April each year.”
The Acting Director-General of the State Interests and Governance Authority (SIGA), John Boadu, believes that the new policy will enhance corporate governance and reduce dependency on the government.
He assured that SIGA will closely monitor the compliance of SOEs with the president’s directive and take necessary actions against those who fail to adhere to the deadline.
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