Goolsarran maintains that audit report on US$7.4b in Exxon’s expenses lacks structure

Anand Goolsarran

Former Auditor General Anand Goolsarran is standing by his assessment that the report by VHE Consulting on US$7.4b in expenses by Exxon and its partners is deficient.

In his accountability column in last Monday’s edition, Goolsarran said “We maintain our previously stated position that the report by VHE Consulting on the audit of the Cost Recovery Statement for the period 2018-2020 lacks basic structure, rendering it difficult for the average reader to go through the report to ascertain what the findings and conclusions are.

“The combined report, comprising 190 pages, is too long and unwieldy. There is a significant amount of unnecessary quoting from the PSA (Production Sharing Agreement), and the report is badly in need of editing to ensure conciseness and user friendliness. Additionally, the auditors had stated that the documentation and process of transferring materials out of inventory could not be examined but gave no reasons why this was so. This is a major shortcoming of the audit since the value of materials issued from inventory to production over the period under review would have constituted a significant portion of the total amount shown in the Cost Recovery Statement”, he said.