WCO supports the Liberia Revenue Authority (LRA) to enhance its Post Clearance Audit function

A training workshop on Post Clearance Audit (PCA) was delivered to the Liberia Revenue Authority (LRA) in Liberiafrom 20 to 24 February 2023. The workshop was conducted under the auspices of the WCO's Accelerate Trade Facilitation Programme, financially supported by the United Kingdom's His Majesty Revenue and Customs (HMRC). The Programme seeks to provide technical assistance and capacity building to effectively implement the trade facilitation measures of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) by applying the WCO's international standards and tools.

The objective of this training workshop was to support LRA for effective implementation of the PCA function in accordance with the WCO's PCA Guidelines. Specifically, the aim is to increase LRA's PCA technical capabilities on complex and specialized key sectors of Liberia's economy and aligning the PCA work with the objectives of TFA Article 7.5.

The five-day training was held for 10 participants, mainly from the PCA and Risk Management units. The participants received intensive training on advanced systems-based audit techniques, specialized sectors (including mining, tobacco, and alcoholic beverages), valuation and transfer pricing issues. In addition, the challenges of introducing third party audit and getting consent or cooperation from the auditees were addressed.

The LRA PCA team appreciated the practical training focusing on system-based audit approach, and that included exercises on audit targeting, valuation data analysis, case studies in specialized sectors and transfer price risk identification, as well as mapping processes through critical evidence gathering to support the audit outcomes.

The Acting Commissioner, Atty. William L. Buku, who officiated at the opening and closing ceremonies, called upon the LRA PCA team to use this training as a springboard leveraging PCA to create the required balance within the administration between revenue recovery, trade facilitation and compliance while also using PCA to effectively manage and improve trader compliance. He thanked the WCO for its continued support in other areas of Customs through the Accelerate Trade Facilitation Programme.

For more information on WCO capacity building, please, contact [email protected].