Like other African countries, Cameroon faces challenges in external audit. However, there are a lot of ongoing reforms, changes in public finance management and accounting standards in African countries. It is for this reason that the Intosai Development Initiative, INI, trained some 63 auditors on ISSAI International Norms in Douala for three weeks.

With knowledge of International Standards for Supreme Audit Institutions, ISSAI, the auditors are expected to henceforth produce quality financial and compliance audit reports. While closing the training on the ISSAI norms on financial and compliance auditing, the Minister Delegate at the Presidency in charge of Supreme State Audit, Rose Mbah Acha, said the praiseworthy initiative by INI will make the profession more credible.

The seminar, according to her, was necessary, given that international audit instruments recommend that auditors spend 60 per cent of their time controlling and 40 per cent on capacity-building. It is for this reason that frequent capacity-building sessions are organised to ensure that auditors are up to the task wherever they go, she said.

As part of the programme meant to professionalise auditing in Africa, INI’s Capacity Development Manager, CREFIAF, Celestin Mgboa Ankamtsene, said, after the second training, participants from Benin Republic, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Gabon, Madagascar, Niger, Senegal and Togo, will be certified as ISSAI facilitators in order to better handle auditing in their countries. The nine Cameroonians who took part in the training are expected to better plan, execute and deliver good quality audit reports.