Preparing Your Records for an Office of the Auditor General Audit

When the Office of the Auditor General schedules a review, the finding that does the most damage is rarely fraud — it is “supporting documentation not provided”. An accounting officer can have spent every shilling correctly and still receive a qualified opinion because the file behind a payment could not be produced in the time allowed. This guide covers OAG audit records preparation for Kenyan public entities: what the Auditor General examines, the documentation trail each transaction needs, the queries that recur, and how to organise files so the evidence is there when it is asked for.

What the Office of the Auditor General Examines

The OAG's mandate under the Public Audit Act is to confirm that public money was used lawfully and effectively, and that the financial statements an entity presents are a fair reflection of what actually happened. In records terms, that resolves to a handful of questions asked of every material transaction: was it authorised by someone with the authority to approve it; was it procured in line with the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act; did the goods, works, or service actually arrive; was payment made to the right party for the right amount; and is each of those steps evidenced by a document created at the time, not reconstructed afterwards.

Alongside individual transactions, the auditors assess whether the entity's own controls were operating through the year — separation of duties, a functioning internal audit, monthly bank reconciliations, an updated fixed asset register, and evidence that prior-year audit recommendations were acted on. The audit opinion that follows — unqualified, qualified, adverse, or a disclaimer — turns in large part on whether the records could support the numbers.

The Documentation Trail for Public Expenditure

For a typical payment, the OAG expects to follow an unbroken chain from budget to bank. In practice that means:

• A budget line and an approved work plan or procurement plan that the spend maps to
• A requisition, and procurement records appropriate to the method used — from a quotation analysis to a full tender file with evaluation minutes and a professional opinion
• A local purchase order or a signed contract, with any variations documented
• A delivery note, completion certificate, or inspection-and-acceptance report confirming what was received
• An original invoice, and a payment voucher with every supporting document attached
• The bank or IFMIS record showing the money left the account, to the payee named on the voucher

Grants and transfers to other entities add a signed acknowledgement and, later, accountability returns from the recipient. Payroll adds engagement letters, statutory deduction schedules, and remittance proof. Missing any single link in the chain turns a routine test into an audit query.

Originals, copies, and certified copies

The OAG works from original documents where they exist. Where an original is genuinely unavailable — lost by a third party, for instance — a certified true copy signed by the accounting officer is usually accepted, provided the certification is contemporaneous and the reason is documented. A scan in a digital registry is a working aid and a backup: it does not remove the need to produce the original on request, but it does mean you know immediately whether the original exists and exactly where it is filed.

The Records Queries That Come Up Most Often

Across public sector engagements, the same records-related findings recur regardless of the entity's size:

• Payment vouchers presented without their supporting documents, or with attachments that do not match the voucher amount
• Procurement above a threshold with no evidence of the correct method — no quotations, no evaluation, no approval by the relevant committee
• Goods or works paid for with no delivery note, completion certificate, or inspection report on file
• Imprests and per diems surrendered late or not at all, with no accounting for the balance
• Assets on the books that cannot be traced to a purchase record, or assets in use that were never recorded
• Bank reconciliations not prepared monthly, or prepared with differences left unexplained
• Prior-year audit recommendations with no evidence of the action taken

Structuring Files So Evidence Is Retrievable in Time

An OAG query usually comes with a short window to respond — often days, not weeks — and each query left unanswered becomes a paragraph in the management letter. The entities that respond calmly are the ones whose filing already mirrors how the audit thinks. In practice that means a file per payment voucher, kept in voucher-number order with every supporting document behind it; procurement files kept whole rather than split between the user department and the procurement unit; a contracts register that points to where each signed contract and its variations live; and a single, current fixed asset register reconciled to the financial statements.

A searchable digital copy of that same structure is what turns a request for “all payments to supplier X in the third quarter” into a desk task rather than a strong-room search. The record categories that fail a KRA audit are largely the same ones the OAG asks for, so a system built for one serves the other.

What Readiness Looks Like Before the Notice Arrives

If you cannot yet tick every line, the gap is defined and closable. A records audit establishes which transactions, periods, and registers are exposed, and a focused remediation exercise rebuilds the trail from source before an external reviewer works through it.

Preparing With Support

Records preparation is most effective four to six weeks before a scheduled audit, while there is still time to trace a missing document or rebuild a register from source. Our records management services include pre-audit organisation, evidence-file compilation, and on-site support during the review itself, and our case studies describe this work for a Nairobi government office. If an OAG audit is on your calendar, the earlier the records work begins, the fewer queries reach the final report.