Corruption rife at PAAB
STAFF WRITER
The Public Auditors and Accountants Board (PAAB) has allegedly failed to publish a detailed Register of the Board, register firms with deceased persons, Non-resident partners and taking of bribes being some of the allegations facing the accountants.
Under the Corporate Governance Practices and the PAAB ACT 27.12 of 1999,2001 and 2015, the Board is mandated without fail to avail a detailed register indicating Firms, Tax Accountants, Public Accountants and Public Auditors within the respective firms to anyone upon the payment of an inspection fee.
This has seen PAAB failing to uphold its mandate in accordance with Section 20 of the Public Accountants and Public Auditors (PAAB) ACT which states that; “Any person may inspect a register and make copies of any entries there in at all reasonable times on payment of such fee as may be prescribed provided that no such fee shall be payable by a police officer or a member of the civil service acting in the course of his or her duty as such or any other person whom the secretary of the Board has authorised to inspect the register in question.”
According to PAAB Official Online Portal, the firms without the number of partners and excludes clarity on the number and qualification either as a Public Auditor, Public Accountant and Public Tax Accountant within the respective categories of firms.
The Board recently failed to avail the register to a businessman by the name Jaison Chirapuse who engaged PAAB Office through various emails.
This publication is in position of the emails sent to PAAB by Chirapuse who received a zero feedback.
In a survey conducted by Zimhub Info, 75% of Audit Firms particularly those registered in the last five years are operating with non-resident partners or partners fully employed somewhere.
The survey further revealed that 7% percent are operating with names of the deceased partners.
A partner with a local Audit Firm who refused to be named for fear of victimisation by the regulator, said the malpractice culture at PAAB has been going on for a number of years.
“The high levels of corruption at PAAB has been going on for years. Firms who would want to secure tenders particularly from the Auditor General’s office and Big Private Corporates on the strength of non-existing or fictitious capacity are paying handsomely to the PAAB Secretariat. It has been the norm of the day during the tenure of all the Boards including the recently appointed one. I would like to believe that the secretariat has through corrupt means captured the Boards.”
The source said if the current modus operandi at PAAB remain unchecked, it will risk the country of losing reputable firms with real partners on the ground such as Deloitte and others in the big four.