Act must be reviewed to stop theft, says expert

National, Normal
Source:

The National, Friday 3rd May 2013

 By GABRIEL LAHOC

THE country’s Public Finance and Management Act must be reviewed and aligned with international financial reporting standards (IFRS).

Only then will the rampant financial mismanagement within the public service and administration be curbed.

This is the view from Kombra Kui, an alternate member in the Papua New Guinea accountant’s registration board and former lecturer of accounting at the PNG University of Technology.

Kui said the process under the current act is burdensome and lacks transparency unless it can be aligned with IFRS. If that were to happen it would guarantee a “framework for sound financial management reporting which are transparent and compliment auditing and faults are easy to detect” and in line with international standards, he said.

Kui was reacting to the recent call from the education department calling for financial statements from schools after many failed to submit their reports on time.

He said there is gross negligence involved in the current practice where schools use a standard format accounts book and cash book to produce their financial reports.

“I don’t want the school teachers to be blamed for failing to provide financial reports, it is the system’s fault. You can’t blame them (teachers). You blame the current system which you have given them.” 

Kui, who taught for seven years at university, said an overhaul was overdue and it is important for the review to be done quickly to help schools to be transparent and so that acquittals are done correctly.