School of Survey goes 99 years without internal auditor
The Ghana Survey School the state institution that trains the country’s surveyors has clocked 99 years without an internal editor to audit its finances.
The school over years had always been audited as part of the Lands Commission.
Apart from the position of the internal auditor, the school does also have a registrar.
This came up when officials of the Lands Commission appeared before Parliament on Tuesday.
Internal Auditors are accounting professionals who provide organizations with guidance on financial accuracy, internal controls and regulatory compliance. They examine and improve operating practices, and financial and risk management processes of the organization.
The Deputy Executive Secretary of the commission, Mr Jones Ofori-Boadu, explained that since independence, the school had always been under the Lands Commission.
He, however, stated that measures were being put in place to make the school autonomous.
The commission was also interrogated on why they are yet to be accredited by the National Accreditation Board.
Mr Ofori-Boadu explained that it needed to fulfil some requirements, including refurbishing the school, building a library, a computer laboratory as well have its own premises instead of sharing that of the Lands Commission.
He was, however, quick to add that most of the requirements had been met and the NAB certification should be a matter of time.
The Ghana Survey School
The Ghana Survey School was established in 1921 and was known as the Gold Coast Survey School before Ghana attained her independence in 1957.
The establishment of the School was in response to the urgent need to train local indigenes at the middle-level manpower to help in the preparation of maps, which is the bedrock for the socio-economic development of any country.
It is a fact that nearly all the senior professional surveyors in the country today are all former students of the Ghana Survey School / Gold Coast Survey School.
It is on record that until recently the School has also trained students from the West Africa sub region.
The cartographic Training School was established in 1933 in response to the need to improve the draughtsmanship capabilities of indigenes. It was the only institution in Ghana which provided training for cartographers in the country up to the certificate level.
Survey Training School was under the direct supervision of the then Survey Department and Cartographic Training School was under the then tEstablishment Secretariat now Office of the Head of Civil Service, being managed by the Survey Department.
Survey Training School, was a section of the Survey Department. PTrainees of Survey Training School were hardly sent to the Ministries, Departments and Agencies apart from the Lands Department and Survey Department. The trainees receive their monthly allowance from the Survey Department. Trainees are bonded to serve number of years after completion of their training.
The trainees of the Cartographic Training School, are posted to various Ministries, Departments and Agencies. Trainees received their monthly allowance from Ministries, Department and Agencies they have been assigned to. Trainees are bonded to serve number of years after their training with the organizations they have been assigned to.
An Internal Auditor needs not be an Accounting Professional. Any other broad-minded professional with training in risk, governance and compliance can equally play that important function in any organisation. Accounting background is however a plus if it comes to issues relating to preparation of financial statements.
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