Ministries continue to ignore Auditor General’s recommendations

Jan 10, 2018 News

Auditor General Deodat Sharma has once again expressed concern over the nonchalant treatment of the recommendations that he makes yearly to improve the financial landscape of Guyana.
Most of the recommendations made by the Audit Office have been ignored. Only a small percentage of that which was recommended in 2014 was fully implemented; it was no different for 2015 and the trend continued in 2016.
In his report covering a review of the fiscal year ended 2016, Sharma said, “Each year, my Office issues recommendations to Ministries, Departments and Regions that are designed at improving systems and practices at these entities and improving the Government’s governance and accountability mechanisms. Four hundred and forty-two recommendations were made in my 2015 Audit Report. We reviewed each recommendation to determine what action, if any, was taken by the respective Accounting Officers. At the time of reporting, 160 or 38 percent partially implemented, while 91 or 22 percent were not implemented.”
The Auditor General continued, “Overall, I am concerned with the lack of action towards the implementation of these recommendations, since, sixty percent of the recommendations have not yet been implemented.”
In addition, Sharma said that in many instances, recommendations are repeated each year without appropriate action and as a result, weaknesses and issues that impacted negatively on Government’s governance and accountability mechanisms continue to occur.
“Once again, I encourage the Government, through the Ministry of Finance, the Accountant General’s Department and the respective Head of Budget Agency, to take appropriate actions and put measures in place to address the recommendations made in my prior report and this year as well,” stated Sharma.
The non implementation is nothing new. Just over 379 recommendations were made in his 2014 Audit Report. Sharma had said that he and his team reviewed each recommendation to determine what action, if any, was taken by the respective Accounting Officers.
Sharma said that to his disappointment, at the time of reporting, 115 recommendations which represent 29 percent of his overall recommendations were partially implemented, while 223 representing 56 percent were not implemented. Therefore, only 15 percent of the recommendations were implemented.
Also, in a previous report, Sharma said, “My Report for 2015 has 442 recommendations, of which, 62 or approximately 14 percent were in relation to overpayments on construction works and related issues. Of the 62 Recommendations, 31 or approximately fifty percent were in relation to contracts that were awarded and or completed in 2015, with overpayments valued $36.197M.”

Auditor General, Deodat Sharma

Sharma said that the difference of 31 or approximately 50 percent of these recommendations were in relation to contracts that were awarded and/or completed up to 2014, with overpayments amounting to $376.995M.
In addition, Sharma said that of the 442 recommendations contained in the 2015 Report, 388 or approximately 94 percent were in relation to generalised areas. Of these 388 recommendations, 191 or approximately 49 percent related to weak or non-existent internal controls, and breaches of legislation, including the Fiscal Management and Accountability Act and Stores Regulations.
“The Audit Office continue to view the lack of action towards the implementation of prior recommendations with serious concerns and suggest stringent action be taken to address these findings, especially those related to overpayments on construction works, lack of/weak internal controls, including poor record keeping and breaches of relevant legislation,” Sharma concluded.