Skills and competencies for authenticating digital records to support audit process in Botswana public sector

Abstract

Authenticating digital records to support the audit process requires appropriate skills and competencies. The Government of Botswana implemented a government-wide enterprise resource planning (ERP) referred to as the Government Accounting and Budgeting System (GABS) in order to improve financial management in the public sector. However, records professionals and auditors are not trained on how to authenticate records stored in GABS. This qualitative study sought to establish the skills and competencies required to authenticate digital accounting records in GABS. Interviews were conducted with a purposively selected sample of records management professionals, information and communication technology (ICT) professionals, and auditors from the Department of Botswana National Archives and Records Services, Accountant General’s Department, Department of Internal Audit, Office of the Auditor General of Botswana, Department of Corporate Services and the Department of Information Technology (DIT). The study  established that digital forensic knowledge of the types of integrity, processes of access, reproduction, identification and extraction is needed in order to authenticate digital records. However, such skills are lacking in the public sector in Botswana among records professionals and auditors. The study recommends continuous capacity-building training for records management professionals and auditors to enable them to keep up with technological developments and to operate effectively in the face of the everchanging ICTs.

Keywords: Auditing, Authentication, Botswana, Public Sector, Digital Records, Records Management, ERP