DELAYS in submission of draft accounts and information not provided in time are some of the reasons the majority of statutory authorities have not been audited.
This was relayed to Parliament by Public Accounts Committee chairman Alvick Maharaj this week.
He said the 2016-2017 Audit Report on Statutory Authorities covered audits for 15 entities.
“The Auditor-General issued 21 audit opinions out of which 15 related to the 2016 financial statement while four were on the 2017 financial statement,” said Mr Maharaj.
Mr Maharaj said the audit report highlighted that a majority of the 15 statutory authorities were yet to be audited because of delays in submission of draft accounts for audit or draft accounts submitted being incomplete.
He said delays in the provision of management comments and delays in returning signed audited financial statements for issues of audit opinion was another contributing factor.
He said relevant information/records not provided for audit on a timely basis and authorities deciding to address issues raised in draft audit reports and resubmission of financial statements for audit was another issue.
“The committee strongly encourages the chief accounting officers of the respective agencies to take responsibility for the deficiencies that have been highlighted in the audit report and work towards resolving them.
“The clarifications provided to the committee revealed that the statutory authorities have taken the Auditor-General’s recommendation in a positive manner and are taking necessary actions accordingly.”
Mr Maharaj also acknowledged other members of the PAC for the compilation of the bipartisan report, including Joseph Nand, Vijendra Prakash, Aseri Radrodro and Ratu Naiqama Lalabalavu.
