Thursday, October 02, 2008 Account for P74M, Sogod told
AN inventory by the Sogod Municipal Government on some P74 million worth of property, plant and equipment was not properly recorded last year, regional state auditors said.
This violated the accounting system for local government units (LGUs), the Commission on Audit (COA) 7 said in its annual report on Sogod’s transactions in 2007.
State auditors also asked why the town government’s balances in its cash books varied from its balances in the general ledger as of Dec. 31, 2007.
State auditors said they already sent an audit memorandum observation to Mayor Thaddeus Durano but it was not confirmed whether the town chief’s executive responded to the audit report.
They verified that the P74.71 million in recorded property, plant and equipment represents about 84 percent of the northern town’s total assets.
However, COA 7 said the validity of these assets “cannot be actually established” because the LGU failed to report the physical count of the properties and equipment.
The mayor reportedly formed a committee that conducted the inventory of the town’s assets.
COA asked the municipality to submit a report on the town’s assets not later than Jan. 31 this year.
The agency also said that Sogod failed to reconcile its bank balance with its book balance.
Comparison by state auditors in the general fund showed that the balance in the cash books was P2,412,578, while the general ledger reached P3,065,315, or a difference of P652,737.
In the trust fund, the LGU recorded P1,937,593 in its cash book balances, while there was P2 million recorded in the general ledger balance, or a difference of P84,827.
“It was noted that the general ledger had bigger balances than the cash books in the general funds and in the trust fund. These differences indicate doubt as to the accuracy of the balances of the accounts,” COA said.
There were also no reconciliation statements prepared by the municipal accountants, auditors said.
They urged Mayor Durano to order the municipal accountant to prepare a monthly statement of the reconciliation of balances. The auditors said they already issued an audit memo to the mayor for him to order the municipal accountant to reconcile the financial records. (GMD)
