Depts lacking good financial management

By JEFFREY ELAPA
INVESTIGATIONS
in­to government departments and agencies by the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) indicate that they lacked good financial management resulting in poor service delivery.
This was revealed in the PAC report on part two of the Office of the Auditor General report on the national government departments and agencies accounting and recording systems.
Committee chairman Malakai Tabar said all government departments were in a poor state with many discrepancies in their financial management systems.
He said all departments had failed systems, were incompetent and had indifferent illegal practices.
The report said government departments’ and the agencies’ low managerial capacity and lack of understanding responsibilities and commitments contributed to the decline in service delivery to the public.
He said part two of the investigation revealed that poor management of, and accounting of public monies, negatively affected service delivery and national development.
The report stated that in 2009, not one national government department kept or produced reliable and accurate financial data of public monies.
The report further stated that in 2010, the national government departments did not comply with the requirements of the Public finance (management) Act 1995, the financial instructions or the constitution and this continued into 2011.
It was reported that among the four departments randomly selected among the 20 departments examined showed no improvement, although the committee has heard evidence of plans, programmes and strategies to improve accounting performance.
In 2009, only two agencies out of 20 agencies had current bank reconciliations while 13 of the 20 departments did not adequately monitor expenditure.
It was also found that there was a high rate of non-compliance with procurement and payments requirements, no cash vouchers, no checking of payment vouchers and unnecessary procurement and executive payments.
It was also revealed that 59 trust accounts were not recorded on PGAS, over-drawn, surplus not invested and payment were made
contrary to trust instruments. 
It was also found that 11 of the 20 agencies did not have internal audit functions.