Before 2003
Prior to the establishment of CIAU in July 2003, internal audit functions were being performed by accounting personnel under the Accountant General Department who later became part of Internal Audit Service. The audit work not systematic and mostly involved pre-auditing of financial transactions. The audit staff were not professionally qualified in internal auditing and Internal Auditing Standards were not applied.
Between 2003-2008
In 2003, Government detached internal audit function from the Accountant General Department by establishing the Central Internal Audit Unit (CIAU) under the Office of President and Cabinet (OPC) and Internal Audit Units in various Ministries and Departments. Further in 2005, moved CIAU from OPC to Ministry of Finance and also established audit committees in Ministries comprising of controlling officers and senior managers. Capacity building was intensified during this period to ensure the internal auditors were competent to undertake audit work in conformance with the internal audit standards. However, the Service still applied the traditional based auditing where audit work focused much on checking the accuracy and completeness of transactions as well as assessing the effectiveness of controls set by management.
From 2008 to date
In 2012, Government moved CIAU to OPC and in January 2015 the CIAU was moved again to the Ministry of Finance where it is based to date. In order to effectively deliver on its mandate, a functional review was conducted in 2008 which resulted in creation of new sections at CIAU, creation of addition Internal Audit Units (IAUs) in Ministries and elevation of headship in some IAUs. In addition, a 5 year strategic plan was developed in 2010 and Government approved an internal audit charter in 2011 which provides purpose, authority and responsibility of the Internal Audit Service in Government. Further audit committees were restructured in 2014 by replacing controlling officers and senior managers with non-public officers. The internal audit scope was expanded beyond financial audits to include other areas like performance and Information Technology (IT) auditing. In addition, risk-based internal audit approach replaced the traditional system based approach. Further, the Service embraced the use of computer assisted auditing tools (CAATs).
Today, we keep getting better
We have developed a new strategic plan covering 2016-2021 which will significantly transform the provision of internal auditing in government. The service is already in the process of rolling out continuous auditing of major IT systems in Government and facilitating the enactment of the internal audit bill. In addition, the Service will expand the scope of internal auditing to governance and risk management and further it will implement the quality assurance activities both internal and external.
