An appraisal of internal control system at AngloGold Ashanti - Obuasi (2004 - 2008)

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2008-09-11
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This write-up resulted from incessant fighting and intimidation between Anglo Gold management of one hand and mining communities and the mine workers on the other side, due to unpaid salaries undisclosure of company’s net worth, lower salaries, lower incentives, lost of properties, money, equipment machinery and others. The workers and the mining communities alleged that the internal control system o Anglo Gold Ashanti was not working effectively and efficiently and that these challenges had come about because of embezzlement, fraud, misrepresentation, omissions and negligence of transactions, poor supervision, poor management decisions, lower standard of living and lower royalties which had been trampled upon, thus, bringing in its wake numerous confrontations, apathy, fighting among these various groups. There was therefore the need to appraise the internal control system at Anglo Gold Ashanti. Specifically the study sought to find out whether Anglo Gold Ashanti is operating according to the standard procedure. The study sought to identify weakness and strength in the internal control system of Anglo Gold Ashanti and thus find amicable solutions and recommendations. Therefore, investigations were carried out to find the authenticity of the allegations, whereupon a sample size of one hundred was obtained from the various departments of Anglo Gold Ashanti: Budget, accounting, payroll, management, personnel, auditing and asset department through stratified sampling. Data was collected on personnel contribution, management contribution to the internal control system, safeguarding of assets, supervision, authorisation, accounting controls, segregation and organization control objectives, popularly refer to as “papa moss”, from the sample population through observation, interviews and questionnaires. From the discussions and input from the respondents, it was conceded from the findings that Anglo Gold Ashanti is well vexed in internal controls for example they have accounting controls, management controls, personnel controls, physical restriction of assets, audit controls, proper supervision, segregation of duties, authorization and control organizational objectives. However, there were major limitations of lack of funds to go the extra mile, lack of time for making more interviews, observations, issuing more questionnaires and reading more extensively. The study too was limited to Anglo Gold Ashanti, the finance department from 2004 to 2008 to zero down huge expenses which could be incurred if the whole Anglo Gold Ashanti were to be studied from the beginning of their operation. The study gave the importance of internal controls and a short insight into the A.G.A profile. The findings were later analyzed, discussed, followed by apportionment of the various analyses into pie charts. Finally after careful study, it was found out that there were loopholes so the needed antidotes were administered.
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A thesis submitted to the Board of Postgraduate Studies, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the Degree of Master of Business Administration, 2008
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