GRA at pains to keep auditors for ExxonMobil’s cost audit

Dec 14, 2021 News

– says officers leaving for higher salaries after being trained

– cost audit office now vacant, without clear direction from Govt.

Kaieteur News – Due to better salaries being offered in the private sector, the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) says it is having an awfully difficult time keeping auditors it trained to oversee the oil and gas sector. This was noted in the 2020 Auditor General’s report, which was laid in the National Assembly on Monday.

GRA Commissioner General, Godfrey Statia

The report recalls that in July 2020, approval was granted by the Board of the Authority for the establishment of the Petroleum Revenue Department. With the implementation of the new structure, the Petroleum Revenue Audit Department was changed to the Petroleum Revenue Department, and its functions were extended.
Since this is a new industry for which the skills were virtually non-existent in Guyana, and current salary levels could not attract expatriate staff, the GRA said the decision was made for the Authority to do its own internal training with the help of the Office of Technical Assistance and the International Monetary Fund. The training, Kaieteur News understands, sought to build capacity to ‘Administer Domestic taxes within the Oil and Gas Sector’ and ‘conduct Cost Recovery Audits’ from March 2017 to July 2019.
Following these exercises, which were done to build a cadre of officers, who can pass on their training to other staff, the GRA said, “It has been found that because of better salaries in the private sector, some of these officers leave as soon as their training is completed, hence the need for improved remuneration.”
The tax authority noted as well that since this is a new section on which the future of the nation depends, “Management of the GRA has been at pains to build a cadre of patriotic and learned officers that will be a shining light for others to follow. Management, therefore, had moved to sources external to the GRA for qualified accountants, auditors and financial analysts.”
Kaieteur News understands that the structure of the department also allows for a petroleum engineer and a cost recovery audit section with 20 officers, neither of which has been filled. GRA said the engineer has not been hired because of salary constraints, while the Cost Audit section is vacant, because there is not yet a clear direction as to whether the GRA would be the agency that will do Cost Audits, or whether the Cost Audits would be done by external contract auditors, in the first instance, since Guyana presently lacks such expertise.
Kaieteur News understands that the Petroleum Revenue Department has a staff of 26, but with plans to fill the Cost Audit’s vacancies, the number is expected to increase to 48 by year-end.