President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has ordered all state-owned enterprises (SOEs) to submit their audited financial statements for the year 2023 by May 2024.
Failure to adhere to this directive will result in sanctions for the non-compliant entities.
The president made this announcement during the 2024 annual policy and governance forum of state-owned enterprises, emphasising his commitment to ensuring that the directive is followed.
The annual policy and governance forum aims to review the performance of all SOEs in the year under review, as these enterprises are expected to support the government’s efforts in delivering on its mandate.
Speaking at the launch of a policy on corporate governance, President Akufo-Addo urged all SOEs to submit their audited accounts by 15th May this year.
He stated that not complying with this deadline would negatively impact financing arrangements with the World Bank.
The Public Finance Management Act mandates the submission of audited financial statements of specified entities by the end of April each year.
The president’s directive seeks to address these delays and improve the overall performance 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.
