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‘$8B in gifts unaccounted for’ – Auditor General flags major lapses in govt. records
(Kaieteur News) – Auditor General (AG) Deodat Sharma in his 2024 review of public accounts found that over $8B in receipts were understated by an uncertain amount, stemming from the lack of adherence to legal requirements for the receipt of gifts.
Section 34 of the Stores Regulations 1993 states that “all gifts received shall be subject to normal store-keeping and received stores accounting procedures and the procedure set out in the Regulations 16 to 19 inclusive shall apply. A Gift Register in Form 18 shall be maintained by the Storekeeper, and the Permanent Secretary shall furnish the Secretary to the Treasury (now Finance Secretary), the Accountant General and the Auditor General information relating to all gifts received from time to time”.
The AG report however flagged that although there was evidence of the receipts of numerous gifts during the year, there was no evidence of adherence to these procedures. To this end, the report states, “The amount of $8.392 billion representing Miscellaneous Receipts as at 31 December 2024 was understated by an undetermined amount.”
Notably, the Ministry of Finance in response indicated that the accounting for gifts in accordance with laid down procedures “shall continue to engage the attention of the Ministry of Finance”. It added that the Ministry intends to seek the intervention of the Internal Audit Department in its interface with agencies to bring about enhanced compliance.
Recently, President Irfaan Ali defended his administration’s fiscal management, pointing to what he believed to be “significant improvement” in transparency and accountability. He noted that 81% of 2023 audit recommendations were fully or partially implemented, compared to the APNU/AFC’s 2015-2019 term, when 83% of recommendations went unimplemented.
President Ali pointed out that accounting officers have already begun implementing recommendations in the 2024 AG report, but further to that, the government has made other notable achievements. The President boasted that although government’s spending increased rapidly, overpayments were less than 3% in 2023 and 2024, reflective of the training provided to public sector employees.
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