The Institute of Chartered Accountants, Ghana (ICAG) has sanctioned three local auditing firms and a foreign one for non-compliance with auditing standards in the collapse of seven banks, Citi News has gathered.
The sanctions come after the Professional Standards and Ethics Committee of the Institute investigated the roles of the auditors of seven local banks which had their licenses revoked by the central bank.
The nature of the infractions committed by the affected banks that led to the license revocation had pointed to some complicity on the part of some auditing firms which had the responsibility to point to the true status of these banks.
The central bank’s concerns over the audit firms complicity coupled with public anxiety over the collapse of the five banks pushed the Institute of Chartered Accountants, Ghana to commence investigations.
Citi News is reliably informed that the investigation which commenced last year has been concluded and four audit firms have been sanctioned by the disciplinary committee established.
The four firms include three local firms and the other being a foreign company which is a member of the prestigious Big 4 audit firms.
The sanctions have also received approval from the highest decision making body of the Institute of Chartered Accountants Ghana.
Background
The Bank of Ghana last month announced that it has completed its reforms in the financial sector with the revocation of licenses of a number of specialised deposit-taking institutions.
The two-year reforms started with the take over of Capital and UT Banks by the GCB Bank in a purchase and assumption deal in 2017.
The following year, five banks – UniBank, Construction Bank, Royal Bank, Sovereign Bank and the Beige Bank had their licenses revoked and subsequently merged into the Consolidated Bank Ghana.