Value for Money Audit in Ethiopia A Study in Selected Federal Public Organizations

Abstract

The main objective of this research project is to examine the practice of Value for money audit in Ethiopian public organizations. The study specifically focuses on identifying common audit findings and examining the effectiveness of performance audit in public organization under the federal government. The study mainly relay on performance audit report of the Office of the federal auditors general (OFAG) for the years from 2009/10 - 2022/23. In addition, key informant interview were conducted with eight purposely selected performance auditors of OFAG. Both qualitative and quantitative analysis tools were used to reach on reliable result. Examination of 14 years audit report showed that, there are several common irregularities in public organizations. Especially, lack of proper information system, poor monitoring and control, poor planning, absence of rules and regulations and poor collaborative work are common for majority of the organizations under audit. Further, the finding showed that the majority (85%) of the performance audits were not accompanied by follow-up audit. Among public organizations for which follow-up audit was conducted, only one third of the audit recommendations were implemented and   no corrective action was taken for two-third of the audit recommendations. The researcher suggests that public organizations need to give due attention to the audit findings and recommendations given by auditors.