Even if the territory’s financial books look to be in order overall,
the same problem areas have wasted government money repeatedly for the last several years, according to the 2007, 2008 and 2009 auditor general’s reports, which were all made public during a Jan. 17 House of Assembly sitting.
In an interview last month, Auditor General Sonia Webster said that even in areas where she has seen improvement in the years since she was first appointed in 1996, many departments still have a long way to go.
Cash security, for example, has come up again and again, she said. Many government offices accept cash payments: taxes, utility bills and fees for documents and services. Each office has policies in place to make sure cash gets deposited at the bank, but they aren’t always followed, according to the reports.
“Despite the contractual arrangements in place to ensure that collections are regularly transported to the bank, cash security is still an ongoing issue,” the 2008 and 2009 reports state, adding that this problem has led to “losses of government revenue” in both years.
“If money is deposited after hours, that’s the cash that goes missing,” Ms. Webster said in a January interview. In addition, since the public officers collecting payments are often the junior staff and there is a high turnover, the problem is difficult to tackle. In recent years, however, the accountant general has put herself in charge of all collections, and that has helped, Ms. Webster said.
See the Feb. 16, 2012 edition for full coverage.