By Isaac Ato MENSAH
Accra – 9 January, 2019
The Registrar-General (RG) of the Republic of Ghana will de-register some one million organisations this April, that is, if the laws are to be complied with.
But the RG’s department itself does not follow the laws of the land.
For the ordinary folk who want to register an organisation, you get to the RG’s in Accra opposite Ghana News Agency and you are directed to a secretarial posse behind the wall of the RG’s for assistance.
‘Do you have an auditor?,’ is a usual question when you get to those private secretaries with the inscription “COMMISSIONER FOR OATH”.
There being no auditor, you are given a prepared document usually from Eddie Nikoi Accounting Consultancy (ENAC).
People sign these forms without asking a question. Neither do they know the Osu offices of ENAC.
So long story short, your business is registered and a year is soon upon you.
What do you do?
‘If you don’t have any accounts nor expenses, we can prepare audited accounts for you within 24 hours,’ said Eddie Nikoi Jr as he stood proudly on the right side of his father yesterday. ‘If you have done some expenses, two weeks.’
‘It’s a bigger societal problem,’ Eddie Nikoi Jr said when we raised the matter of the Institute of Chartered Accountants Ghana (ICAG) and their response to the Ghana Banking scandal.
‘They – the ICAG – cannot hide the report of their investigations,’ Eddie Nikoi stated in a straight forward manner, ‘They will have to publish the report so that we all know the role accountants played.’
‘Even this April, I fear they will not comply,’ he added on the RG matter. ‘We – Eddie Nikoi – submit our annual returns to the Registrar-General every year,’ said the auditing firm boss as he freely answered questions from us.
The big question is, ‘Why don’t Eddie ENAC get all these entities that registered using their documents as auditors come to them for annual accounts and auditor’s reports preparation?
‘Well, some rush to us when the anniversary of their organisation is drawing near,’ said Nikoi Jr.
But do ENAC make any effort to contact these clients?
The answer is no.
And as a solution, Nikoi the father insists the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) and the RG should do ‘more public education’.
We pushed ENAC to accept some responsibility since they give out letterheads that say they have accepted to be auditors, but they parried it over to the GRA and the RG.
In reality, an organisation can change its auditors after registration so ENAC or any auditing firm cannot be blamed entirely, especially if they are not invited.
For Nikoi Jr, the public education and reminder to prepare audited accounts is a ‘business opportunity for the media’.
Nikoi Jr believes strongly that with public education, the ‘one point five million people paying personal income tax out of a potential 15 million’ will begin to breathe some relief as they ‘are being squeezed’ too much.
But why must an organisation – church, business partnership or a multinational corporation – submit its annual audited accounts for renewal of its status and especially do so annually?
Silly question maybe, for the answers are many and simple.
But let’s just answer that it is important to know how much taxes from profit or loss must be paid to the government.
So, with respect to the Banking Scandal, It is clear that we may not need to wait till the ICAG publishes their report; the RG should just publish what these banksters and their conspirators in accounting and auditing submitted.
If it is not prudent to give these data to the public, then have the police been given copies and or have they requested for same?
Do those auditors’ reports conform to what were given to Bank of Ghana by these banksters?
Does the public deserve to know?
Does compliance with the laws mean anything to us in Ghana?
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