The Permanent Secretary indicated that the supporting documents in both instances were in the provinces and what was needed was to get the copies from provinces and avail them to auditors. He pointed out that supporting documents for the $1 million were indeed availed to the auditors before the finalisation of the audit. Pay sheets supporting the salaries for casual workers together with the alleged missing vouchers were submitted to the Committee and the matter has been addressed to the Committee’s satisfaction.
4.4.4 Absence of supporting documentation for the source of Accumulated Fund figure of $722 562
The Audit could not validate the source of the Accumulated figure of $722 562 reflected in the Income and Expenditure as it was extracted from a bank statement and was not supported by source documents. The Audit therefore, could not place reliance on the Accumulated Fund balance of $2 654 009 reflected in the balance sheet.
The Permanent Secretary pointed out that $722 562 relates to the first one and a half months of operation after they took over from the private player and at that stage, they had no guidelines as to how they were supposed to operate and then they operated in the manner that was not in compliance with the expectations of the auditors.
The Committee was concerned that the Ministry has been extracting figures from the bank statements or receipts instead of using ledgers to prepare financial statements. This is contrary to good accounting practice and reflects weak accounting control and poor record keeping.
4.4.4.1 Going forward, the Committee recommends that the Ministry should maintain proper accounting records and ensure that accurate and complete information is kept.
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