Business Ministry fails to submit financial statements for five of its agencies

The Ministry of Business has failed to lay, in the National Assembly, a number of the audited financial reports for five of its statutory agencies. Further, financial statements were not presented for audit.

This was noted by Auditor General, Deodat Sharma in his latest report.

In the document, Sharma said that during 2017, subsidies totaling $732.9M were released to the Guyana National Bureau of Standards, the Guyana Small Business Council and Bureau, the Guyana Office for Investment, the Tourism Authority, and, the Competition and Consumers Affairs Commission.

He noted, however, that the absence of the financial statements at the time of reporting prevented him from verifying the accuracy of the expenditure by the agencies. He said that this is also the case for previous years.

The Ministry of Business noted that efforts will be made to have the outstanding audited financial statements laid in the National Assembly, and the financial statements for the Guyana Tourism Authority and the other agencies, submitted to the Audit Office shortly.

The Audit Office subsequently recommended that the Head of Budget Agency ensures that all audited financial statements are laid in the National Assembly and all outstanding financial statements submitted to the Audit Office in a timely fashion.

The chart below shows the last time each of the five agencies was audited and the last report that was laid in the National Assembly for each.