Monrovia – The General Auditing Commission (GAC) has completed and submitted to the National Legislature audit of the Audit of the Government of Liberia (GoL) Consolidated Fund Financial Statements for the fiscal Period 2014/2015.
During the audit, the GAC observed among others, the following major abnormalities in the financial statements which served as a basis of a disclaimer.
A disclaimer of opinion is issued by an auditor for example when the scope limitation is imposed by the auditee by not providing documents to support the financial statements.
During the audit, the GAC observed that several reversals totaling US$1,090,385.48 and LD$6,966,447.17 were made respectively on the Consolidated Revenue Bank Statements held at the Central Bank of Liberia (CBL).
The Managements of Liberia Revenue Authority, Central Bank of Liberia and Ministry of Finance and Development Planning could not provide underlying documents to support the reversals.
The GAC noted that the cash balances in four bank accounts totaling US$3,695,381,816.74 (LD$3.695 billion) were not disclosed in the GoL Consolidated fund Financial Statements as at 30 June 2015.
The GAC observed that money from the sales of public asset totaling US$347,275.19 was deposited into the General Services Agency Fleet Management Account at the CBL instead of the GoL Consolidated Fund Account.
The GAC further observed that the US$347,275.19 deposited in the GSA Fleet Management Account was not reflected in the consolidated account as at 30 June 2015. The Consolidated Fund Account is the account where all the money received directly by the Government is deposited.
The GAC observed during the audit that foreign travel advances totaling US$248,314.00 was paid to the Judiciary Branch for trips abroad which were not retired. Furthermore, despite several attempts to obtain the names of members of the Judiciary branch who received the advances, the Comptroller for the Judiciary declined to release the names to the GAC.
The GAC observed that there was no evidence of signed validation certificates for the total amount of US$175,690.88 paid for allowances for staffs of the Ministries of Internal Affairs, Justice, the Liberia Institute of Statistics Geo-Information Service, Monrovia Consolidated School System and the Public Procurement and Concessions Commission.
The GAC noted during the audit that the names of some public sector employees with the total cumulative salary of LD$214,942.00 who were either dead, dismissed, or resigned from the Office of the Vice President, the Ministry of Lands, Mines and Energy respectively were maintained on the Civil Service Payroll (EDP Payroll) beyond the statutory time.
During the audit, the GAC observed further that there was no supporting document such as Billing Form, Bank Payment Slip (BPS), and copies of receipt to support the validation and completeness of Property Taxes of US$4,357,000.00 recorded in the GoL Consolidated financial statements for FY 2014/2015.
The GAC noted that there was no supporting document such as Billing Form, Bank Payment Slip (BPS), and copies of receipt to support the validation and completeness of Taxes on Goods and Services of US$50,116,000.00 recorded in the GoL Consolidated financial statements for FY 2014/2015.
The GAC further noted that there was no supporting document such as Billing Form, Bank Payment Slip (BPS), and copies of receipt to support the validation and completeness of Taxes on International Trade of US$167,753,000.00 recorded in the GoL Consolidated financial statements for FY 2014/2015.
The GAC observed that there was no supporting document such as Billing Form, Bank Payment Slip (BPS), and copies of receipt to support the validation and completeness of Other Taxes of US$12,752,000.00 recorded in the GoL Consolidated financial statements for FY 2014/2015.
The Consolidated Fund managed by the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning who disbursed the funding to the line ministries and agencies, the Liberia Revenue Authority collects the revenue on behalf of the Government and the Central Bank of Liberia is the depository of the consolidated fund.