Nigeria’s federal audit office is shifting from spotting rule breaches to asking whether public money delivered value, says the Auditor-General for the Federation, Shaakaa Kanyitor Chira.

Government ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) must now prepare their own stand-alone financial statements and have them audited before the accounts are consolidated.

Chira says the requirement strengthens the chain of accountability and makes official financial information more reliable.

He explained that the change came from recommendations by the Office of the Auditor-General for the Federation (OAuGF). He spoke on Thursday while describing reforms at the office and at Nigeria’s Supreme Audit Institution.

The wider reform is a move away from compliance-only audits.

Instead of just checking whether financial rules were broken, auditors will increasingly test whether money was spent economically and efficiently, and whether government got value for it.

The office is also relying more on risk assessment and technology. Chira says these steps have helped to close financial leakages.

He also argued that an audit’s worth should be judged by what happens afterwards.

“The real value of an Audit is not simply the amount identified in an Audit query, but the extent to which the findings lead to corrective action, stronger systems and better management of public resources,” he said.

Getting there takes time and money, he admitted.

His office is training staff in international public sector accounting standards, statistical analysis and computer forensics.

However, he said technology-driven auditing needs lasting investment in people, systems and processes, and it will not be done quickly.

The office is also working on how it deals with the public and with the agencies it audits.

It plans to make reports easier to access, engage more with stakeholders and follow up more closely on recommendations given to MDAs.

Chira closed by saying public funds are held in trust for Nigerians, so auditors must stay honest, professional, independent and objective.