Auditor installs software to stop fraudulent deals

The Auditor General has installed a Sh100m software to help track irregular transactions in public institutions.

The audit vault software will monitor real time transactions and alert the auditors about any irregular transactions.

It will enable continuous auditing of government transactions as the Auditor General’s office strives to ensure public finances are spent well.

“The Integrated Financial Management Information Systems (IFMIS) is the underlying and the only financial system that drives all national and county governments’ accounting systems,” auditor general Edward Ouko said on Wednesday in a statement.

“We are investing in necessary software to be more proactive and be able to undertake preventive and effective audits,” he added.

The audit vault is a centralised data base that securely stores audit information.

It has the ability to collect and consolidate audit data online and real time, hence enabling the auditor to trace the transactions as they happen. The audit vault creates a central depository for securing data for any transaction made and has the ability to detect any deletion, any attempts to delete data and the source of such attempts. 

The audit vault will therefore address unlawful and irregular transactions in a continuous audit process and secure data for the same.

Mr Ouko said owing to changes in technology, officials in his office must be smarter to trace any irregular use of public resources, hence the need for the audit vault.

The vault will be linked to the government’s IFMIS system for effective and continuous auditing of transactions.

“If we have to audit them properly we need a system that links us to their system so that we engage in a continuous audit and advise accordingly,” said Mr Ouko.