Uganda's accounting officers, auditors now face tougher rules
Children in a classroom. New audit rules in Uganda will see for example a budget for building new classroom blocks subjected to an audit that examines its impact on related performance indicators like teacher and pupil attendance. PHOTO | FILE
A tough rule that seeks to punish government accountants for failure to answer audit queries raised by Uganda’s Auditor-General and global changes in external auditing guidelines are likely to impact the profession. However, taxpayers and investors are likely to benefit from the higher standards.
The new financial management guidelines introduced last year by the Treasury stipulate that accounting officers who fail to answer more than 75 per cent of queries raised by the Auditor-General stand to lose their contracts, according to Protazio Begumisa, president of the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Uganda (ICPAU) — the local accountancy regulatory body.
