Auditor General completes 6,000 audits in a year, doubles target

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Last financial year, the Office of the Auditor General (OAG) completed 6,000 audits, which is double its initial target, highlighting a sharp rise in oversight activity even as the institution grapples with funding, staffing and logistical constraints that threaten to overstretch its capacity.

Assistant Auditor General for Corporate Affairs, Stephen Kateregga, made the disclosure while presenting the Office’s Budget Framework Paper (BFP) to the Parliamentary Finance Committee, chaired by Amos Kakunda (Rwampara County), last Wednesday.

Kateregga told lawmakers that the Office had initially planned to conduct 3,000 audits during the financial year but ended up delivering 6,000 audits by the end of June, with an additional 91 audits still in progress.

“The reason we exceeded the plan is that we had a number of audits that were already in progress and which we managed to complete during that period,” Kateregga said.

The expanded audit output came in a year marked by budgetary disruptions that forced the Office to seek parliamentary intervention. Kateregga revealed that the OAG received a supplementary allocation of Sh32b to cover operational shortfalls arising from budget cuts instituted during the year.

He thanked Parliament for restoring the funds, noting that the move was critical in sustaining audit operations. “This resulted in a revised budget of Sh118b, and by the end of the financial year, 99% of this budget had been released and spent,” he said.

For the current financial year, the Auditor General’s office is operating on a budget of Sh115b. By December 31, halfway through the financial year, he noted the Office had received Sh64 billion, representing 55% of the approved budget. Of the funds released, Sh53 billion had been spent, accounting for 82% of the amount received.

Kateregga reported that fiscal performance for the six months from July to December 2025 remained strong. During the period, the Office produced 3,567 audits against a target of 3,762, with 242 audits still in progress by the end of December.

Members of Parliament also got a brief  on several high-profile audits undertaken during the period, many of which focused on sectors with elevated financial and governance risks. These included forest investigations and other special audits, a special audit of the Treasury focusing on the Integrated Financial Management System (IFMS) fraud, and a special audit of the Uganda Wildlife Authority relating to permit issuance.

Kateregga further cited the special audit of Uganda Airlines and the verification of the Umeme buyout as key assignments the Office concluded. He noted that some of the audit findings have since been taken up by investigative and law enforcement agencies, reflecting the broader accountability process triggered by the Auditor General’s work.

Beyond audit delivery, the Office also registered progress on institutional strengthening. Kateregga told the committee that the Auditor General successfully secured approval for a new five-year strategic plan, which will guide the Office’s work and priorities over the next planning cycle.

However, he cautioned that sustaining performance remains a major challenge due to persistent resource constraints. Kateregga told lawmakers that the Office continues to face a significant funding gap, a challenge that has persisted over the past two financial years.

“For the last two financial years, we had funding gaps of Sh128 billion and Sh98 billion, respectively. We pray that this year the committee looks into this challenge,” he said.

Kateregga also highlighted the expanding audit scope as a growing pressure on the Office. He explained that the number of entities under the Auditor General’s mandate continues to rise due to the creation of new administrative units, local governments, schools and other public institutions.

In addition, emerging programmes and sectors are placing new demands on audit capacity. These include the Parish Development Model, oil and gas, and other extractive industries. Kateregga noted that oil and gas is now at a critical stage, characterised by increased investment flows that require closer scrutiny.

“There is a lot of investment coming in, and this is the time for us as an office to deepen our involvement in this sector,” he said, adding that specialised audits in public works and forestry investigations are increasingly necessary due to the high risks associated with infrastructure projects.

Staffing shortages were identified as another structural constraint. The Office currently operates with about 600 staff, against an approved establishment of 1,800. Kateregga said the staffing gap limits the Office’s ability to cover the entire audit population, including sub-counties and public schools.

As an interim measure, the OAG is seeking approval to recruit at least 300 additional staff in the coming financial year to help ease the workload pressure.

Kateregga further outlined several unfunded priority areas, including Sh470 million for maintenance, Sh2.2b for audits of missions abroad, Sh5.4b for an audit management system, and Sh2.8b for training in emerging areas such as oil and gas and forensic investigations.

Other requests include Sh3b for a Centre of excellence, Sh2.4b for citizen participation in audits, Sh2.5b for reconstruction of branch offices, Sh3.2b for ICT, Sh3.5b for stakeholder engagement, and Sh2.2b for impact assessment services.

In his response, Finance Committee chairperson Amos Kakunda assured the Auditor General’s office that the committee would scrutinise the BFP and review the submission, reporting its findings and recommendations to the Budget Committee.