This is the fourth part of a series of articles on public financial management in Guyana’s post-Independence period. We saw how the 1970s and the early 1980s were characterized by a marked decline and deterioration, resulting in significant delays in financial reporting and audit. Eventually, accountability was brought to a standstill at the end of 1981 following the collapse of the computerized system that was used to prepare the public accounts.
The Hoyte Administration made a sincere effort to retrieve the situation, and several years of backlogged public accounts were finalized. However, moving forward beyond 1981 posed an unsurmountable problem. Given this situation, the Audit Office made certain proposals in 1991 for a restart of the process. While the then Minister of Finance agreed in principle with these proposals, senior officials from his Ministry displayed fierce resistance. As a result, no progress was made in the run-up to the 1992 elections. When the new Administration took up office, it seized the opportunity to embrace the Audit Office’s proposals. Instructions were given, and public accountability was restored with effect from 1992. However, efforts to put together the accounts for the backlogged period from 1982 to