About 25 internal auditors from the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) have received capacity building in the area of forensic investigation to tackle internal challenges and insurance fraud.
According to Makers and Partners (MAP), a chartered accountancy firm championing the capacity building programme, the National Health Insurance Scheme under NHIA was core to the healthcare delivery system and it was important to support its departments in ensuring that it works effectively to serve its purpose.
The workshop, which touched on the details of effective planning of an investigation, practical and useful skills for evidence gathering and preservation using the appropriate techniques and tools, including adequate documentation of procedures to obtain evidence, had Wilfred Neneh Addico as the facilitator.
A partner at MAP, Alfred Aryee, in his remarks, noted that the aim was to build the capacity of the participants and the internal audit function of NHIA.
He mentioned that one of the main challenges of NHIS is the forging of claims by some Service Providers, and anticipated that the gesture would help the internal audit department to address such issues.
He said the capacity building programme was their own way of contributing to society as they intend to train at least 10 state institutions in the area of forensic audit, adding that “so far we have reached out to the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Judicial Service and others”.
Mr Kwasi Ampadu-Kissi, Managing Partner of Kissi Consult, said as part of efforts to tackle the challenges within the auditing space, management of state institutions must create a good atmosphere for internal auditors and also treat their reports fairly.
“The external auditor comes in once for a certain period or a number of days, he assesses and takes samples, but the internal auditor is sitting by the books and can decide to do pre-audit of all transactions,” he said.
He stated that it depends on what controls are available and “that’s why he needs to assess the controls and be able to tell you whether is working or not, and then try to improve on it all that things can go right”.
Mr Ampadu-Kissi emphasized that when there is no order in the Office all these could create challenges for the Internal Audit Function.