COA: City accountant fails to submit report on time ‘in previous years’

By: Gerome Dalipe

THE Iloilo City Accounting Office failed to submit on time its financial reports within the required period in previous years, state auditors discovered.

In its report for the City’s 2018 financial transactions, the Commission on Audit (COA) said the City Hall’s financial reports were not filed on time, thus preventing auditors from verifying the propriety of such documents.

Such practice violated Sec. 7.2.1 of the COA Circular 2009-006 dated Sept.15, 2009, which mandates the city accountant, or other authorized officials, to submit reports and supporting documents by the accountable officers.

“Failure or refusal to do so without justifiable cause shall constitute a ground for administrative disciplinary action,” read the COA report.

COA Circular 2010-001 dated March 2, 2010 also enumerates the financial reports and supporting schedules to be submitted, such as subsidiary schedule of general ledger accounts.

Likewise, Presidential Decree 1445, otherwise known as the Government Auditing Code of the Philippines, states that it is the duty of the officials or employees concerned to comply promptly with the submission of financial records and reports on time.

A review by state auditors, however, showed the delay in the submission of financial reports for the period January to December 2018 under the General Fund and Local Economic Enterprise, Trust Fund and Special Education Fund reached up to 68 days.

The state auditors commended the effort of the City Accounting Office in significant improvement in the submission of financial reports.

“However, the persistent delays in the submission hindered the timely auditorial review and deterred early detection of errors and irregularities,” read the COA report.

In the report, the auditors recommended to the city accountant to strictly comply with the submission of accounting records and reports within the deadline set by COA.