Due to professional malpractices and bribery, some auditors have failed to execute their duties correctly. This has taken some of them to prison.
Hunters have become the hunted! This old adage may tie closely to what seems to be happening with auditors today in the country. The auditing field which was regarded as a profession marked by truth, accuracy and objectivity is today at the centre of controversy in issues of corruption. Instead of being at the forefront in fishing out those involved in corrupt practices, auditors are now entangled in court cases linked to dishonesty. This has put a question mark on the role of auditors as to whether they fully respect the ethics binding the profession.
Just when the government and other bodies are seeking ways to wipe out corrupt practices from the country, by using chartered accountants and auditors whose roles, amongst others, are to verify the data of a structure while determining the accuracy and reliability of balance sheets and reports, these accounting dons, who have to act as independent bodies in wiping out intricacies of accounting policies which permit companies or individuals to alter accounts for their benefit are instead working alongside with individuals who are using dubious and corrupt means in managing State money. This might be the case of some chartered accountants who were detained for three weeks at the Yaounde Central Prison in the Kondengui neighbourhood. They are accused of “manipulating with accounting records” in the management of the Crédit Foncier du Cameroun. According to the National Order of Chartered Accountants, these chartered accountants are free to stand before the court and defend themselves.
Some auditors have even gone as far as doing business with a firm they are supposed to audit which is contrary to the norms and principles binding the profession. Such is the case with chartered accountant Claude Bernard Messy, who has been arraigned in the corruption case involving the Cameroon Housing Corporation (SIC), for illicit acquisition of a SIC house and the execution of contracts when he was the auditor of the aforementioned firm. A Yaounde-based Chartered accountant, Ibrahima Hassanou, says this is serious blow to the independent role an auditor has to play in cross-checking the financial statements of a company. According to him, when an auditor starts carrying out contracts for the company he is supposed to audit, the aspect of independence and objectivity in executing his duties becomes uncertain.
Brenda YUFEH
