Crucial Reports Of State Firms Held Back Due To Lack Of Auditor General

Since the former state’s Auditor General Edward Ouko exited office in August 2019 after his eight-year term, there has been no one appointed to replace him and handle the financial audits of government firms.

Due to the Auditor General’s vacant position, the signing off and approval of audited financial results for about 150 state agencies will delay.

On Tuesday, 29th October, Kenya’s power generator KenGen released a notice saying that the firm would delay in publishing its financial results for the year ended June.

According to the company’s Secretary, Mr. Paul Ndung’u, the Capital Market Authority (CMA) requires that financial results are published by the last day of October annually, but they have been held back as the appointment of Auditor General is not completed.

“Due to the ongoing process of appointing an Auditor General, we would like to notify the public that our annual publication of our financial results will be delayed by a month this year,” said KenGen secretary Paul Ndung’u said.

“We have asked the Capital Market Authority to give us until November 30th hoping that by this time we shall have an auditor,” he added.

Other state agencies affected by the delay in Auditor General’s appointment are the National Social Security Fund (NSSF), Kenya Power, Kenya Pipeline Corporation and Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) among other key state firms.

KRA and Kenya Pipeline Corporations have remained mute on details of the announcement of their financial results.
Kenya Power financial results of the year ended June 2019 are likely to drop by at least 25 percent, as compared to the previous financial years, while the state’s pensioner NSSF settled at focusing its 2018/2019 results on that of the previous financial year.

The current situation was reportedly foreseen by various stakeholders and accountants’ body who urged the President to hasten the appointment process as any delays would have a negative impact on state firms.

“If the President does not appoint a new Auditor General soon enough, we are worried that the signing and approval of crucial reports will be delayed,” they noted.