The practice of state-run entities being delinquent in their responsibility for the timely completion of audits for funds allocated for their operations continued unchecked last year, according to the 2014 Report of the Auditor General.
According to the report billions of dollars in state funds allocated to semi-autonomous agencies continued to be unaccounted for by way of audit with several being adrift in their audits by as many seven years.
Some of the entities listed in the Auditor General’s report as being seriously delinquent in the completion of audits include the Mahaica-Mahaicony-Abary Agricultural Development Authority (MMA-ADA), the Guyana School of Agriculture, Guyana Civil Aviation Authority, Transport and Harbours Department (T&HD) and the Maritime Administration Department (Marad).
Audits for several of these entities, including the Hope Coconut Estate, the MMA-ADA, and the T&HD remain as many as seven years’ adrift, whilst in the case of Marad, the 2004 audit is only now being finalized. Other agencies that continue to be seriously delinquent in the completion of audits are the Guyana Tourism Authority (GTA) which has not submitted statements to the Audit Office since its establishment in 2002, the National Parks Commission which has not been audited since 2007, the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission which has not been monitored since 2009 and the Guyana National Bureau of Standards (GNBS) which was last audited in 2005.
The Auditor General’s Report cites several reasons for these delinquencies including, failure on the part of delinquent agencies to submit financial statements for auditing and the necessity to return submitted statements for corrections.