Monrovia- April 22, 2022: The General Auditing Commission says it has completed the National Civil Service Payroll Audit (Payroll verification) across 14 of Liberia’s 15 counties.

According the GAC, its Auditors were deployed in the county capitals and other designated towns from April 4- 15, 2022 with a few days added, worked assiduously – “bending backward”, to ensure that ‘every single’ employee of the Government of Liberia is verified within the time-frame of the audit.

It can be recalled Auditor General P. Garswa Jackson, during a News Conference on December 10, 2022, officially launched the execution of the Independent National Service Payroll Audit, alongside the Domestic Debt Audit against the backdrop of a review of the Civil Service Payroll in 2018 by the National Wage Bill Team comprising the Civil Service Agency and Ministry of Finance and Development Planning.
In view of the foregoing, the team was tasked with the authority to harmonize and synchronize salary structure across government ministries, agencies and commissions into a data-base and merge remuneration and allowance into a single package.

Auditor General Jackson, in his December 10 News Conference and subsequent media outreach and interactions on the Payroll Verification exercise, noted that the move was intended to discourage operating data-base systems at individual government institutions; adding: “ the team was also clothed with the mandate to disburse salaries in both Liberian and United States Dollars based on the availability of funds in government’s coffers and create alternative interim payroll software to ensure that salaries are processed in both U.S and Liberian Dollars.”

Previously, according to the Auditor General of the Republic of Liberia, the existing payroll software could only process salaries in local currency; but the system was upgraded to ensure the processing of both currencies.

He further indicated that all of the assigned deliverables were concluded by the National Wage Bill Team…, giving rise to the recommendation from international partners for an independent external auditor (the GAC) to verify the actualization of the deliverables by the team before the migration of the payroll data-base from the previous to the new civil service module or CSM; “and that’s how the GAC came into the picture,” AG Jackson further noted.

The Verification exercise – under the sponsorship of the World Bank and Partners, afforded enthusiastic employees of the Liberian Government in the counties to physically interact with GAC Auditors (head count) to ensure success for all.

While the National Civil Service Payroll Audit may have been a rewarding experience, its success was also marred by challenges.
Access to most county capitals and designated towns by road for deployment of auditors delayed due to unfavorable conditions.
GAC vehicles conveying the various teams experienced unstable movements – most often resulting to ‘break-downs’ or uneasy passage.

Access to some designated towns was either by motor-bikes or trekking in consonance with their commitment to achieving the primary goal of the verification exercise.

Meanwhile, the second phase of the National Civil Service Payroll Audit is expected to kick off on April 25 to May 6, 2022 in Montserrrado County.