NCN, DPI flagged for late submission of financial statements

Feb 24, 2022 News

Kaieteur News – The Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has once again highlighted an issue in which State agencies continue to be delinquent in submitting their financial statements for audit on time.

Auditor General: Deodat Sharma.

The matter came up before the PAC on Monday as queries were made about the outstanding statements for the National Communications Network (NCN), Department of Public Information (DPI) and the Integrity Commission. All three agencies were listed in the 2017 Auditor General’s Report as having not submitted their financial statements. During the PAC meeting on Monday representatives of each agency was given an opportunity to update the committee on the submission of the statements.
Based on the responses provided to the PAC, the 2017 financial statements for both the DPI and the Integrity Commission are yet to be audited. As it regards NCN, the state media entity is said to have submitted financial statements for 2019. However, the company is still in arrears as each agency should have the statements submitted for audit by April of the previous year.
During the hearing of the PAC meeting, representatives of the agencies were reminded of the importance of submitting the financial statements on time. In his 2017 report, Auditor General (AG) Deodat Sharma recommended that the statements be submitted so that the accounts for the NCN and DPI could be laid in the National Assembly.
During a previous PAC meeting, AG Sharma listed several factors which affect the execution of his work. Chief among these, were the non-submission of financial statements by some ministries and budgetary agencies.
The non-submission of financial statements along with lack of adequate human resources within the Audit Office, as well as the late commencement of audits, resulted in the AG’s inability to meet the September deadline for the submission of his report. While steps were taken to address the issue of staffing, the non submission of financial records remains a major factor affecting the AG’s work.

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