Auditor General's Findings
The 2023/2024 Auditor General’s Annual Report (subsections 3.2.242–3.2.246) found that the Clarendon Municipal Corporation received a Disclaimer of Opinion on its financial statements for 2011/2012 to 2014/2015, because there was not enough audit evidence for the Auditor General’s Department (AuGD) to form an opinion.
The AuGD advised that there was insufficient evidence to support: Cash and Cash Equivalents – $385.9 million; Revenue – $1.07 billion; and Expenditure – $2.42 billion. Management blamed the audit timeline, accounting software that could not produce the General Ledger in the required format, difficulty retrieving old records from off-site storage, and a shortage of staff.
The AuGD rejected the claim that the timeline was inadequate. The AuGD advised that its records showed the documents were first requested in October 2017, with fieldwork scheduled to end in January 2018, but the audits were delayed because management failed to provide the documents on time, despite prior commitments. The request was repeated in November 2022.
Separately, the report (subsection 3.2.277, Table 25) recorded that the Clarendon Municipal Corporation had eight further financial statements outstanding, for 2016/2017 through 2023/2024 as required by the Local Government (Financing and Financial Management) Act. The corporation also failed to provide a response to the AuGD regarding the delay.
Permanent Secretary (current): Marsha Henry-Martin
Breach Category: Resource Management
Permanent Secretary (at breach): Marsha Henry-Martin
Breach Type: Failure to Submit Financial Reports On Time
