ABOUT LARA TAYLOR-PEARCE

Mrs. Lara Taylor-Pearce is the Auditor General of the Republic of Sierra Leone. She is an Alumni of the Annie Walsh Memorial School, a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Certified Accountants of the UK, A fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sierra Leone, and holds an MBA in Leadership and Sustainability. During her career which has spanned almost thirty years in both private and public sectors, she has contributed significantly to financial management reforms which include both oversight and auditing in both sectors. Her role in contributing to the development of public sector external auditing in the African Region has not gone unrecognized, as due to her passion for such, she was appointed chair of the governing board of the African Region of Supreme Audit Institutions- English speaking (AFROSAI-E) a position she still holds. She is also the current Vice-Chair of the Intosai Development Initiative (IDI), an institution dealing with developing international public sector external audit products based in Norway.

Since her appointment as Auditor General for Sierra Leone, there has been a significant positive impact on public

Mrs. Taylor-Pearce collecting the 2020 Ten Most Outstanding Sierra Leoneans Award

sector external auditing in the country, raising the awareness of financial accountability in the public sector to a very high level, which is a key aspect for national development. Through her leadership, she has been able to grow her current institution to a level that has gained both national and international recognition. Mrs. Taylor-Pearce is one of the leading advocates for strong public financial management structures in Sierra Leone. She is an advocate for female issues, and a strong believer in the rule of law. She is a recipient of the Anticorruption National Integrity award, other national recognitions, and a recipient of the Grand Officer of the Order of the Rokel (GOOR).

The citation for her award by Chozen Generation Sierra Leone as one of the Ten Most Outstanding Sierra Leoneans in 2020 reads: “FOR YOUR SHOW OF PATRIOTISM AND FOR CONSISTENTLY DEMONSTRATING FEARLESS AND EXEMPLARY LEADERSHIP IN PROMOTING PUBLIC SECTOR ACCOUNTABILITY, NOTWITHSTANDING THE POLITICAL TENSIONS SURROUNDING YOUR WORK”.

Mrs. Taylor-Pearce is happily married with two daughters.