Auditor General's Report on the Public Accounts of Montserrat 2004

REPORT OF THE AUDITOR GENERAL
ON THE PUBLIC ACCOUNTS OF MONTSERRAT AND ON THE
MINISTRIES, DEPARTMENTS AND STATUTORY AGENCIES
FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDING 31 DECEMBER 2004
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Scope of the Audit <strong>Report</strong> to the Legislative Council
Section 19 of the Finance (Administration) Act 2001 requires this Audit
<strong>Report</strong> to be submitted to the Minister responsible for Finance for
presentation to the Legislative Council of Montserrat. However, in practice,
the <strong>Report</strong> is tabled by the Financial Secretary. The <strong>Report</strong> summarizes the
major matters arising from the examination and audit of the Public
Accounts, Ministries/Departments and Statutory Agencies for the year
ended 31 December 2004.
Financial Administration and Management
2. Section 17(1) of the Finance (Administration) Act 2001 requires the
Public Accounts to be submitted for audit at latest 6 months after the year
end. This requirement was not met. Additionally, when the statutory
statements were eventually submitted there were several errors in the
accounts which required several revisions to the statements.
3. I am required to certify the Statement of Assets and Liabilities and the
abstract accounts of Revenue and Expenditure. These Statements are included
in this <strong>Report</strong> as Appendix1. The Audit Certificate is also attached.
4. Twenty-one subheads recorded expenditure in excess of appropriation.
In the absence of supplementary appropriation this excess expenditure is
recorded in the Public Accounts without statutory authorization.
5. Due to the absence of some source documents we were unable to verify
some of the revenue. This therefore presented a limitation in the scope of the
audit.
6. For the first time, the Treasury Department has presented a Cash Flow
Statement as part of the Public Accounts.
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