COA scores school cashier for late remittance of P7.1M collections

By Gerome Dalipe IV

The cashier of the Iloilo State University of Fisheries Science and Technology (ISUFST) main campus in Barotac Nuevo, Iloilo had the practice of not depositing in full the tuition and other school fees she collected amounting to P7.124 million.

Such practice would expose government funds to misappropriation by the school officer, the Commission on Audit (COA) noted in its annual audit report for 2022.

“The practice of not depositing collections intact and regularly and holding substantial cash on hand for a more extended period exposes government funds to the risk of loss through theft, unauthorized use, or misappropriation,” the state auditors said.

Verification of the school’s collections by COA showed that the university’s collections of its tuition and other school fees and income from other projects amounting to P7.124 million were not deposited intact and regularly at least once a week or as soon as the collections reached P10,000.

The auditors said the school cashier had the practice of depositing her collections only every other month. For instance, from June 2021 to June 2022, the cashier deposited the collections 10 times only. These delays in deposits resulted in accumulating undeposited collections of P66,219.67 to P6.292 million in his custody for 6 to 108 days.

The audit team also noted that deposits were only made whenever there were collections in checks while a substantial amount of cash collections were left undeposited for a longer period.

“It was apparent that the cashier intentionally withheld an ample amount of cash collections and deposited only a portion of it together with the checks,” the auditors said.

In June 2022, the audit team conducted cash examinations on other external campuses and, COA said, that was the only time that the cashier deposited her collections.

Likewise, the auditors discovered the non-maintenance of the internal control system designed for daily monitoring of the accountable officer’s cash accountabilities.

“Collections and deposits, if recorded and balanced daily, facilitate monitoring of cash accountabilities and minimize the risk of loss and errors because it enables the accountable officer to detect and correct possible deficiencies immediately,” read the COA report.

During the exit conference, the cashier blamed such deficiencies on the failure to update regularly the cash receipts record (CRR) to record collections and deposits and monitor and reconcile reports against the daily balance of actual cash accountabilities.

The cashier said that such a report did not reflect the updated balance of cash accountabilities.

In the audit report, COA directed the cashier to deposit her daily collections on the next banking day or if collections are minimal, at least once a week or as soon as the collections reach P10,000.

The auditors also required the cashier to properly maintain and update the cash receipts record to facilitate daily monitoring of cash accountabilities.

The auditors also asked the school officials to take appropriate legal action against the cashier for her failure to promptly deposit cash accountabilities, pursuant to the provisions of the Revised Cash Examination Manual.