The Public Administration and Appropriations Committee (PAAC) of Parliament has again voiced concern about the large number of public entities that are continuing to break the law by not tabling financial reports.
The PAAC’s latest expression of anxiety came in a report tabled in the legislature last week after a recent meeting with the Office of the Cabinet on the matter which was raised at a committee meeting in June this year.
The Office of the Cabinet submitted a report to the committee on the status of the financial reporting of 170 public bodies, which showed that only 36 entities were current in submitting their accounts.
It showed that 56 were one to two years behind; 36 were three to five years behind; 14 were six to eight years behind; five were over nine years late; and there were no record of 23 of the entities ever submitting an audited report.
The PAAC report was tabled Wednesday prior to Parliament going on a three-week break to accommodate both major political parties’ participation in the current campaign for the November 28 Local Government Elections.
The PAAC suggested that the public entities should be required to make available quarterly or biannual reports to be uploaded to the websites of the Houses of Parliament, as well as the Office of the Cabinet and the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service.
“That, in the view of the members, would ensure that the committee can monitor the performance of the ministries, departments and agencies on an ongoing basis,” the committee chaired by the Opposition’s spokesman on tourism Dr Wykeham McNeill, said.
It was noted that, in response to the PAAC’s concerns, Cabinet Secretary Douglas Saunders had explained that the status of the annual reports from the various public bodies could be found on its website, and that following submission to that office they were usually tabled in Parliament.
However, the committee said that in some instances reports were presented to the Office of the Cabinet but were not tabled in Parliament because they were not audited, or did not comply with the regulations or procedures outlined in law related to producing the information they are required to be tabled in Parliament annually.
The report also stated that, in response to the PAAC’s question about sanctions that could be applied to the State bodies for failing to file current financial reports, the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service had advised that one of the requirements in the Public Bodies Management and Accountability Act was for the boards of the bodies to submit their annual reports, including audited financial statements, no later than four months after the end of each financial year.
It was also explained by the ministry that it was monitoring self-financing bodies, and where breaches are found, reports could be sent to the Attorney General’s Department for appropriate action to be taken.
The committee recommended that, where necessary, the technical capacity of accounting departments within the various public bodies should be strengthened, and the services of external auditors should be used to ensure that financial reports are current.
The PAAC’s membership also includes Rudyard Spencer, Fayval Williams, Marisa Dalrymple-Philibert, Juliet Holness, Leslie Campbell and Alando Terrelonge (Government members); as well as Phillip Paulwell, Fitz Jackson, Dwayne Vaz, and Michael Stewart (Opposition members).
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