COA bares sound, unsound gov’t dealings in Guimaras
Good news.
The Province of Guimaras scored high on top two significant findings in the latest State audit made by government auditors here.
Largely credited to the management of Governor Felipe Nava, the Commission On Audit (COA) said the province has in place a “strong system of internal control” on cash receipts and disbursements.
As such, COA believes that above-board were over P111.9 million in cash transactions made by the Guimaras Provincial Government the previous year.
The commendation was elaborate, an unusual find on previous Guimaras COA reports.
“In this particular aspect of local governance, the cash account of the Province was substantially maintained, properly accounted for and presented fairly in the financial statements. In view of this, we commend the Provincial Governor for diligently exercising fiscal responsibility over this account,” the COA said in its report. “We also commend the Provincial Treasurer for her untiring effort to implement sound internal control system for cash transactions, thereby obtaining reconciled cashbooks with accounting records. The functions performed by the Provincial Accountant and his staff are likewise creditable in reconciling the book figures with the bank; thus presenting reliable cash account balances in the financial statements.”
And there’s more.
“We equally recommend that the Provincial Treasurer and the Provincial Accountant as well as other officials concerned, continue performing their functions and responsibilities efficiently and honestly over moneys of the provincial government for its continued progress,” the COA continued.
The reliability of the cash dealings went through several validations conducted by Senior State Auditors of the COA.
For instance, established was clear documentation of all cash transactions duly executed by rightful persons here. Cash and records were also “physically safeguarded” that had access in accordance with the province’s authorization standards.
In fact, by year-end of 2008, Cash in Vault of over P1.5 million were promptly deposited with the COA taking special notice and commendation that “the signing and countersigning of checks were not made in advance.” Further still, Guimaras Provincial Government practice showed that checks from the Executive Department were countersigned by the governor and that from the Legislative were countersigned by the Sanggunian Panlalawigan.
To note, common occurrence in various local government units usually will see a governor’s aide or vice governor’s trusted man authorized to co-sign the checks for particular disbursements.
Meantime, yet another commendation came to view as COA took note of the Guimaras Provincial Government’s “adequately managed” Personal Services (PS) appropriations and expenditures.
All in accordance with law, Governor Nava, the COA said, has a “balanced budget” with “reasonable” expenditures for delivery of basic services and projects.
“For the period under review, the Province had effectively managed its appropriation and expenditures on personal services, hence the excess in PS cap was avoided…..we commend therefore the Provincial Governor for his sound governance on the manner of utilizing, expending and accounting for the public resources, more particularly, the personal services budget. We also commend that Provincial Budget Officer, the Provincial Accountant and other officials concerned for being observant and complaint with the rules and regulations on expenditures pertaining to PS, especially the grant of additional benefits and the hiring of new employees that did not impair the PS budget,” the COA said.