AUDIT SERVICE BENEFIT FROM ENVIRONMENTAL AUDIT TRAINING

Thirty participants from the Performance and Financial Audit divisions within the Audit Service Sierra Leone (ASSL) have benefitted from a five-day Environmental Audit training organized by the African Organisation of English-Speaking Supreme Audit Institution. The training was done at the Freetown City Council Building from  23rd  – 27th January, 2023.

The objective of the training is for the participants to produce an impact-driven environment audit report. The training encompasses four days of in-house presentations on environmental audits taking into consideration performance, financial and compliance audit aspects. The team also embarked on a day of visitation to various sites with potential environmental problems including the Kingtom Dumping site and the coastal site at Hamilton. This was done to broaden the knowledge and experience of the participants.

The Deputy Auditor General Mr. Aiah Gbondo Tugbawa, who also currently doubles as the Acting Auditor-General (in the absence of the substantive Acting Auditor-General) advised the participants to make good use of the training they have received so that whenever the ASSL undertakes an environmental audit, they can execute what they learnt during the training. He highlighted that the participants had not only been given the literature but also the opportunity to visit the sites with potential environmental disasters.  “This will capacitate them on the actual issues to be audited and come up with better recommendations that will be of impact to the nation”, the Deputy Auditor-General asserted.

Environmental auditing is in principle no different from the other types of audits that SAIs conduct, all of which may address environmental, natural resource, and sustainable development issues.