Member of Parliament for Atiwa East and Chairperson of Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee, Abena Osei-Asare, has raised questions over the accounting treatment of GH¢4.5477 billion provided by the government to the Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod) in 2025.
According to the former Deputy Finance Minister in charge of Revenue, the amount was described by GoldBod in its Business Review as “revolving trade capital” intended to support the institution’s gold purchasing, trading and export activities.
However, she said the same amount was recognised in GoldBod’s financial statements as grant revenue and consequently included in the entity’s reported surplus.
She has therefore called on the management of GoldBod to publicly explain the basis for the treatment of the funds and reconcile what she describes as inconsistencies in the institution’s 2025 annual report.
In a statement, Mrs Osei-Asare said her review of GoldBod’s 2025 financial statements had brought the treatment of the GH¢4.5477 billion into sharp focus.
She noted that while GoldBod described the funds as revolving trade capital, another section of the annual report referred to the amount as “unutilised government subvention”.
She further pointed out that the accounts indicated that the entire GH¢4.5477 billion remained at the Bank of Ghana at the end of the financial year.
“This leaves an obvious accounting question: How did GH¢4.5477 billion provided as revolving trade capital, and still unutilised at year-end, come to be recognised as revenue contributing to a reported surplus of about GH¢5.44 billion?” she asked.
The MP argued that the issue was not necessarily whether GoldBod generated income through its operations, but rather how the government-provided funds were classified and reflected in the financial statements.
She said a clear explanation was necessary because the treatment of the funds had implications for the institution’s reported financial performance.
Mrs Osei-Asare said the applicable public-sector accounting standards should provide guidance on how government transfers of such a nature ought to be treated.
She cited the International Public Sector Accounting Standard (IPSAS) 1, which she said requires financial statements to reflect the substance of transactions and provide a fair and consistent representation of an entity’s financial performance.
She also referred to IPSAS 23, which deals with revenue from non-exchange transactions, including government transfers.
According to her, the treatment of government transfers under the standard depends on the nature of the transfer, including whether the funds constitute unconditional revenue, are subject to specific conditions or are, in substance, capital contributions.
She further referenced the Public Financial Management Act, 2016 (Act 921), arguing that the law requires public financial statements to be properly prepared, consistently classified and capable of presenting a true and fair view of an entity’s financial position and performance.
Mrs Osei-Asare specifically cited Sections 79, 82 and 93 of Act 921 as relevant to the matter.
Beyond the GH¢4.5477 billion, the Public Accounts Committee Chairperson said she had identified other discrepancies within GoldBod’s annual report.
She claimed that different sections of the same report contain different figures for expenditure, surplus, total assets, net assets and GoldBod’s share of profit in GoldBod Jewellery Limited.
For her, such differences raise concerns about consistency and clarity in the presentation of public financial information.
“IPSAS 1 requires consistency in financial reporting,” she said, stressing that an audited annual report involving billions of cedis in public resources should not leave readers having to choose between different figures for what appears to be the same line item.
She maintained that the discrepancies should be reconciled to ensure that stakeholders, including Parliament and the Ghanaian public, have a clear understanding of GoldBod’s financial position.
Mrs Osei-Asare acknowledged that GoldBod may have generated legitimate income from its operations during the year.
However, she said that did not resolve the question surrounding the GH¢4.5477 billion government funding.
She is consequently demanding that the Directors of GoldBod explain the accounting basis on which the funds were recognised as grant revenue while also being described elsewhere in the report as revolving trade capital and unutilised government subvention.
She also wants GoldBod to reconcile the varying figures contained in its 2025 annual report.
“If there is a proper accounting basis for this treatment, it should be stated plainly,” she said.
According to her, public funds of such magnitude require clear and consistent disclosure, particularly where the classification of those funds directly affects an entity’s reported surplus.
Mrs Osei-Asare has also called on the Auditor-General to make available the Management Letter arising from the audit of GoldBod’s 2025 accounts.
She said releasing the document would help Ghanaians understand whether the issues she has raised were identified during the audit process and, if so, what explanations GoldBod provided to the auditors.
The call comes amid heightened public and parliamentary scrutiny of GoldBod’s financial operations and the government’s gold-related programmes.
For Mrs Osei-Asare, the issue is ultimately one of transparency and accountability in the management and reporting of public resources.
She insists that where billions of cedis of government funds are involved, the financial statements must clearly show the nature of the funds, how they were treated, whether they were utilised and how their treatment affected the institution’s reported financial performance.
She therefore wants the concerns surrounding the GH¢4.5477 billion and the other figures identified in GoldBod’s annual report to be addressed through a clear reconciliation and explanation from the institution and the Auditor-General.
By 1960news.com
