The Sacco Societies Regulatory Authority (SASRA) has increased the number of audit firms approved for auditing Saccos under its supervision to 365 to accommodate the additional cooperatives.
The latest figure for the 2024 auditing of Saccos means an additional 92 audit firms have now been cleared to check the books of Saccos, up from 273 in 2022.
SASRA hopes to increase the quality of book keeping by Saccos and has warned those it has not authorized to refrain from offering external auditing services to the cooperatives under its purview.
“Any financial statements purportedly audited by such unqualified persons shall not be considered for approval by the Authority as required by the Act and the Regulations made thereunder,” said Peter Njuguna, chief executive at Sasra.
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SASRA was traditionally supervising deposit-taking Saccos since 2010 when it was operationalized while the rest of the Saccos were under the Commissioner for Co-operative Development.
However, SASRA’s mandate was in 2020 expanded through the Sacco Societies (Non-Deposit Taking Business) Regulations, 2020 to start supervising Saccos with non-withdrawable deposits of at least Ksh100 million.
The regulations also brought under SASRA all non-deposit taking Saccos that mobilise membership and subscription to share capital through digital or other electronic payment platforms and also those who mobilise membership and subscription to its share capital from people residing outside Kenya.
The regulator in January approved 300 deposit and non-deposit taking Saccos, showing the expanded list that it will be overseeing in the current financial year.
External auditing of Saccos is a critical part of supervision since it is meant to arrest any financial weaknesses as early as possible and rescue savers from losses.
The State Department of Co-operatives latest data shows the number of audited accounts registered with the Commissioner of Co-operatives jumped to 4,734 at the end of June 2023 from 4,420 in the preceding similar period surpassing the targeted 3,800, showing increased scrutiny even for Saccos outside SASRA purview.
“Target exceeded due to improved compliance by cooperatives, that is, higher turn-out than expected due to sensitization which was done in the counties,” said the State department in filings to the Treasury.
Deposits of members in savings and credit co-operative societies crossed the Ksh1 trillion mark for the first time by the end of June last year.
Data from the State Department of Cooperatives shows savings grew by 15.6 per cent to Ksh1.047 trillion in the year to June 2023 from Ksh906 billion, marking a major milestone for Kenya’s cooperatives movement.
The Ksh141 billion growth in deposits helped cooperatives surpass the Ksh950 billion that had been targeted for the year 2023—pointing to the growing stature of Saccos in the economy as members accumulate savings for a rainy day and also tap loans for development.
By Sammy Chivanga
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