A lack of regular parliamentary sessions has consistently led to late tabling of the government’s annual reports, financial statements and minutes.
Deputy auditor general Angela Cullen reminded the Public Accounts Committee of the ongoing issue on Thursday, 27 July, and told members “we raise it each year”.
During the watchdog group’s latest meeting, she said there have been improvements in recent years, but there are numerous reports from at least five years ago that are outstanding.
The committee gathered in the House of Parliament this week to discuss the auditor general’s March paper, ‘Follow-up on past PAC recommendations 2023 – Report 1’.
The report details the government’s progress on 17 recommendations on budgeting, and 16 on financial management and reporting made in 2020 and 2021.
It also shows that the committee endorsed all of the auditor general’s recommendations in two of its own reports from 2021.
As the meeting began, committee chair Roy McTaggart raised concerns on one of the five conclusions from the report which he said “really jumped out at me”.
It described a lack of regular meetings of parliament leading to late tabling of annual reports, financial statements and government minutes.
McTaggart asked Cullen for details on the backlog, to which she replied the issue is raised each year in the auditor general’s report, and there continues to be months of delays.
She said looking back to 2018, out of the 39 audits, only 35 annual reports have been tabled to date, while in 2019, out of the 39 audits, only 35 annual reports have been tabled.
In 2020, out of 39 audits, five annual reports have not yet been tabled, and in 2021 out of 46 audits completed, there are still 15 annual reports outstanding.
And of the latest 36 audits completed for 2022, only 19 reports have been tabled, the deputy auditor general said.
“The Public Management and Finance Act requires that they’re tabled by 30 May and that isn’t happening,” she added.
McTaggart asked if the issue was more of reports making their way to parliament rather than the lack of meetings.
Cullen responded that may be the case in part, but reports were approved in Cabinet in May and June and have not yet been tabled because parliament has not sat since.
‘A sensible solution’
McTaggart asked financial secretary Kenneth Jefferson for further input and if there is anything the ministry can do to assist in speeding up the process.
He told the committee that the issue “features quite heavily” in the deputy governor’s meetings with chief officers.
The Ministry of Finance also writes to chief officers “pretty frequently” to encourage them to submit their annual reports, he said, especially when there is a meeting of parliament.
“If there is, for example, a lag between the Cabinet approval and the parliament meeting, and that lag can be months upon months – that’s a problem,” he added.
Jefferson said he liked that auditor general’s suggestion that reports should be tabled when parliament is not sitting.
“I think that deserves a lot of merit. If the parliament were agreeable to allowing that to happen, that would that would help tremendously,” he said.
The financial secretary described it as a “practical and sensible solution” to getting rid of the backlog, adding: “That assumes obviously, that the reports have actually been done.”
McTaggart requested that the auditor general’s office provide the ministry with a list of the outstanding reports, and concluded: “Hopefully we’ll finally be able to nip this in the bud.”
Following the hearing, the committee held an administrative meeting where members discussed the evidence they received. They will a report on their findings.
The Parliament Standing Order says the government must respond to recommendations within three months of the report being tabled in the House of Parliament.
The non-partisan Public Accounts Committee is responsible for holding the government to account over its spending and financial management.
Members include Isaac Rankine, Barbara Conolly, Heather Bodden, Joseph Hew and McKeeva Bush.
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