City accountant clarifies P1.9-B unliquidated accounts

BACOLOD City Accountant Ma. Corazon Cardel clarified Monday, November 19, the alleged P1.9 billion unliquidated and unreconciled accounts of the city involved in the previous administrations of the local government.

“This is a continuing report of Commission of Audit (COA), the alleged P1.9 billion unliquidated accounts. This is a report continuously being handed down by COA from the time Bacolod was born,” Cardel said.

On Sunday, November 18, it was reported in a national newspaper that COA questioned the P1.9 billion unliquidated and unreconciled accounts of Bacolod in 2017.

Cardel said this involved the administrations of former mayors Monico Puentevella, Luzviminda Valdez and those who preceded them.

“This is not only for Mayor Evelio Leonardia’s administration, but this is also continuous,” she said

Cardel noted that based on the COA report, it was stated as of December 31, 2017, so in accounting parlance, it means that it’s continuous or accumulated accounts.

“We would like to correct this alleged P1.9 billion unliquidated accounts. This does not mean that the unliquidated accounts of Bacolod are P1.9 billion. This also composes of cash advances which are unliquidated, which is not P1.9 billion. This is an unreconciled account from the balances of the accounting department and the actual counts of inventories of the General Services Office (GSO) and City Engineering Office (CEO),” Cardel said.

She stressed the said amount were not cash advances (P1.9-B). As of December 2017, the cash advance was pegged at P26, 172,563.44

On the copy of the COA’s opinion which was published in the national newspaper, Cardel also said they have yet to request from COA the audit opinion that was released last week.

She added audit opinions of COA published in the national newspaper said that Bacolod GSO officer failed to update entries in property, plant and equipment cards that resulted to non-reconciliation of account balances shown in the annual physical inventory report and in the financial statements and subsidiary ledgers of the City Accountant’s Office amounting to rendering the correctness of December 31, 2017.

Fiscal examiner III Domingo Roa Jr., who is in charge of the liquidation of cash advances, said there were some officials who already liquidated their cash advances.

“We are giving them 60 days to liquidate, otherwise we cannot act on another cash advances,” he said.

He added they are also sending notices to the previous administrations to liquidate their accounts. (MAP)

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