The mining of the world’s assets below the ground has fallen prey to illicit financial flows (IFFs), robbing countries of valuable revenue that could be used for the benefit of citizens. This was the subject of the second annual meeting of the Steering Committee of the International Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI) Working Group … Continue reading “Underground assets and illicit financial practices brought under the spotlight in Pretoria”

There has recently been significant debate about Uganda’s double taxation treaties with countries like Mauritius and the Netherlands and the amount of revenue lost through these agreements. Much as this is an issue, there is an even deeper underlying problem. Countries around the world and especially resource rich African countries are grappling with the ever … Continue reading “Transfer Pricing Risk and the Extractive Industries: A Case Of Uganda”

Transfer pricing (TP) is an ever-growing concern for resource rich under-developed countries. The OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) and the BEPS (Base Erosion Profit Shifting) project have gone a long way in preparing guidelines and regulations that such countries can adopt in order to tackle this problem. African countries are losing over USD … Continue reading “Transfer Pricing (TP) Course held in Freetown Sierra Leone from 4th To 8th June, 2018.”

A number of fiscal regimes are applied in the Petroleum industry by different countries. It is difficult to evaluate one system over another as countries have specific conditions within them that favor one over another. Uganda as a country employs Production Sharing Agreements. Under these agreements, a company is licensed to undertake all risks involved … Continue reading “Real Time Cost Monitoring and Audit Under The Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) In Uganda’s Petroleum Sector”

Every year, mining, oil and gas companies pay hundreds of billions of dollars to governments around the world. However, many countries rich in natural resources fail to translate this resource wealth into economic growth. Between 2010 and 2015, we estimated that oil produced in developing countries alone amounted to about $1.55 trillion in government revenue. But … Continue reading “Watching Every Last Cent: New Tools for Monitoring Oil and Mineral Revenues”

A new resource from the World Bank’s Financial Integrity Unit is now available and could be of assistance to Supreme Audit Institutions (SAI) when conducting audits using the extractive-industries value chain.[1] The value chain describes the different steps of the development process, from discovery through extraction, to lasting value creation for society.[2] An important step in the … Continue reading “New World Bank Manual and other Resources could Increase Transparency in Extractive-Sector Licensing and Assist SAIs During Reviews”

Did you know that the Office of the Auditor General of Uganda is enhancing the benefits of extractive industries to citizens? Here is how: Strong SAI leadership, cooperation and harmonized donor support Auditing to ensure the use of oil industry revenue for the benefit of Ugandans Empowering local communities working in the mining sector Taking … Continue reading “SAI Uganda: Meeting the Challenge of Extractive Industry Auditing”

The Office of the Auditor General Zambia hosted the second meeting of the INTOSAI Working Group on Audit of Extractive Industries (WGEI) learning task force in Lusaka, Zambia from 9th to 12th April, 2018. The purpose of the meeting was to review and update the draft Extractive Industries Training Curriculum. The meeting was officially opened by the … Continue reading “Zambia Hosts the 2nd meeting of the Intosai Working Group on Extractive Industries (WGEI) Learning Taskforce”

In Uganda Minerals are owned by the state in trust for the people of Uganda as stated in the Mining Act 2003. However, there is no requirement for state participation nor to have a company or corporation that can hold the commercial interests of the state in the mining industry. Bearing in mind the mineral … Continue reading “Mining In Uganda: The case for a National Mining Company”

In 2017, the State Audit Office of Vietnam conducted an audit on State management of mineral exploration and mining during the period 2014-2016 at the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE), Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT) and 08 provinces/cities. One of the most important tasks of the audit was “auditing the licensing of mineral … Continue reading “The Audit Office of Vietnam Audit on The Licensing of Mineral Exploration and Mining during the period 2014-2016”