For the first time, all government entities have submitted their draft financial statements in time to meet the legally mandated deadline, Auditor General Alastair Swarbrick said Monday.
All 12 government ministries, portfolios and offices and all 26 statutory authorities and government companies submitted their draft financial statements by the 31 August 2011 deadline, Mr. Swarbrick said.
“I am pleased to see the efforts by the government and the progress it has made to provide timely financial reporting. This is an important step towards achieving the ultimate goal of providing the Legislative Assembly and the people of the Cayman Islands with full accountability for the receipt and use of public funds”, Mr. Swarbrick said.
However, the Office of the Auditor General has asked eight of the 26 statutory authorities and government companies, which failed to provide sufficient information for the auditor general to begin audit work on those statutory authorities’ accounts, to resubmit their financial reporting packages.
“While there are a few submissions that require more work, my office can now begin the audit work necessary to report on the fairness of those financial statements that met the initial reporting requirements,” Mr. Swarbrick said. “The next challenge will be for my office to audit the statements in as timely a fashion as possible.”
According to the Public Finance and Management Law, introduced in 2005, the government is legally mandated to submit its financial statements for auditing by 31 August each year. This is the first time in six years that all government entities have met the provisions of that law.
Previously, financial statements from government ministries, portfolios, statutory authorities and government-owned companies were sent in months late and, in some cases, even years late and many did not contain enough information for auditors to determine how the public money was spent.
Audit Manager Martin Ruben said he would not identify the eight statutory authorities that had been requested to resubmit information.
The remaining 18 statutory authorities and government companies and the dozen ministries, portfolios and offices have provided enough supporting documentation and information for the auditors to begin auditing their accounts, though the Office of the Auditor General is unlikely to complete those audits this year.
Mr. Ruben said most of the government accounts for this year were submitted immediately prior to the 31 August deadline – and some a few hours after that – and that, added to the existing backlog of financial statements and the availability of resources in the Office of the Auditor General, meant the audits would not be fully completed until early 2012.
“We got so many statements at the very last minute, it’s impossible for us now to meet the 31 October deadline,” he said.
He said some government statutory authorities, like the Water Authority and the National Roads Authority, had consistently provided their accounts in a timely fashion over the years, meaning their audits could be carried out by 31 October.
Mr. Ruben said the submission of the government’s financial statements by the 31 August deadline was an “important step forward” and he said he hoped that next year the government might be able to submit its financial information earlier to prevent the bottleneck seen this year.
“Progress is being made by government in order to achieve timely reporting,” he said.
According to a news release from the Office of the Auditor General on Monday, the government has indicated it will produce consolidated accounts by the 31 October deadline for audit. This will be the first time the Office of the Auditor General will be auditing these accounts since the requirements of the Public Management and Finance Law were introduced.
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