Municipal corporations need help to complete financial reports - Auditor General

By Halshane Burke    

 

Auditor General Pamela Monroe Ellis says municipal corporations are in need of assistance to complete their financial reports to standard.

 

Mrs. Monroe Ellis says all local authorities are behind in the submission of their statements.

 

The municipal corporations have cited several reasons for the delay in the submission of the statements, including the absence of an IT infrastructure and lost documents.

 

Mrs. Monroe Ellis says more needs to be done to get the corporations to comply. 

 

"There are three councils that I believe, though it's not perfect, they have been able to secure their information and submit it, and that is Trelawny, that is Portland and that is Manchester. And that to me is an example that it is possible, because even if your IT systems fail, you should have the hard evidence, you should have the paper evidence to support it," she suggested. 

 

But the Auditor General said this kind of paper evidence is lacking in terms of how the accounting staff at municipal corporations account for the information, complete a cash book, have evidence of the journal entries made, or secure payment vouchers.

 

She was addressing this week's sitting of the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament.