Finance Ministry still lagging behind… Parliament yet to receive up-to-date audited accounts of more than 14 entities

Nov 17, 2017 News

By law, the National Assembly is supposed to receive the audited accounts of various entities. But for years, many ministries and agencies continue to lag behind. Under a new administration, not much about this situation has improved.

Auditor General, Deodat Sharma

This was recently identified by Auditor General, Deodat Sharma in his 2016 report.
Sharma noted that there are certain entities which fall under the control of the Ministry of Finance. That Ministry is expected to ensure that the audited accounts for those entities are up to date and are laid in the National Assembly. But the Auditor General was able to point out that this was not the case for more than 14 entities.
In this regard, Sharma said that the audit of the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL) operations as a Company has been completed for the years 2002 to 2013, while the audits for 2014, 2015 and 2016 are being finalized. With respect to the audit of NICIL’s Consolidated Financial Statements, Sharma said that these have been completed and reports issued up to the year 2006.
Sharma said that Draft Consolidated Financial Statements for the years 2007 to 2011 were submitted and the audits are in progress. He noted however, that their completion and issuance of the audit reports are dependent on the finalization of the audits of the Guyana World Cup Inc.
The Head of Budget Agency for the Ministry of Finance has since indicated that this matter is still engaging its attention.
Be that as it may, Sharma still insisted that the Ministry ensure that the accounts for these entities are brought up to date and all audited accounts are laid in the National Assembly.
Sharma also provided an update on other entities under the control of the Ministry of Finance and the status of their audited statements. See Chart below.