Auditor General's Findings
The 2024 Auditor General’s Annual Report (subsections 3.2.264–3.2.270) found that the St. James Municipal Corporation (SJMC) received a Disclaimer of Opinion on its financial statements for 2014/2015 to 2017/2018, 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 – $271.7 million; Revenue – $4.79 billion; and Expenditure – $4.99 billion. Management attributed this to a system failure that resulted in the loss of accounting information for the periods under review, along with the inability to locate some supporting documents due to the passage of time.
Separately, the report (subsection 3.2.277, Table 25) recorded that the St. James Municipal Corporation had five further financial statements outstanding, for 2019/2020 – 2023/2024 as required by the Local Government (Financing and Financial Management) Act. Up to the time of the report, 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
