IAA Concludes Stakeholders’ Roundtable

The Internal Audit Agency (IAA) of Liberia has successfully concluded a one-day Stakeholders’ Roundtable aimed at validating and strengthening key governance documents critical to improving internal audit practices and service delivery across the public sector.

The Roundtable, held on Wednesday, February 4, 2026, in Monrovia, brought together representatives of integrity and accountability institutions, including the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC), the Liberian Institute of Certified Public Accountants (LICPA), the Liberia National Bar Association (LNBA), and the Liberia Revenue Authority (LRA). Senior management and technical staff of the IAA also participated in the exercise.

The engagement focused on three core governance instruments of the Agency: the General Regulations, the revised Strategic Plan (2025–2029), and the National Internal Audit Compliance Checklist. These documents are designed to provide a clear regulatory framework, guide the Agency’s strategic direction, and standardize internal audit activities across public sector entities.

Speaking at the official opening of the Roundtable, the Director General of the IAA, Hon. David A. Kemah, urged stakeholders to subject the documents to rigorous review and constructive critique, emphasizing the importance of collective ownership in strengthening public financial governance.

Hon. Kemah stressed that the exercise is an opportunity to ensure that the regulations, strategies, and compliance tools are practical, responsive, and aligned with best practices, while addressing the realities of Liberia’s public sector.”

The Director General reaffirmed the IAA’s unwavering commitment to executing its statutory mandate of strengthening internal audit systems within Ministries, Agencies, and Commissions (MACs), and underscored the importance of the National Internal Audit Compliance Checklist as a standardized reference tool to support internal auditors in evaluating institutional processes, controls, and risk management frameworks.

Facilitating the presentation of the draft General Regulations, Atty. Lafayette Gould of the Kemp & Associates Law Office, explained that the Regulations are intended to operationalize the IAA Act rather than amend it.

According to Atty. Gould, Acts of the Legislature are generally broad in nature; hence, the Regulations which provide the necessary specificity to clarify provisions of the Act, thereby enabling effective, consistent, and lawful implementation without altering the intent of the law.

Participants later broke into technical working groups comprising stakeholders and senior IAA officials. These sessions generated substantive inputs, observations, and recommendations aimed at strengthening the clarity, applicability, and effectiveness of the Regulations, Strategic Plan, and Compliance Checklist.

The IAA noted that inputs from the Roundtable will be carefully reviewed and incorporated, where appropriate, before the documents are finalized and formally adopted. The Agency described the engagement as a critical step toward reinforcing transparency, accountability, and sound governance in Liberia’s public sector.

The Stakeholders’ Roundtable forms part of the IAA’s broader reform agenda to professionalize internal audit functions, improve institutional performance, and enhance public confidence in government systems.