iTaukei Affairs Board submits annual reports for Provincial Councils to PAC

The iTaukei Affairs Board submitted annual accounts updates for the Provincial Councils and the board to the Public Accounts Committee today which highlighted a backlog in the audits.

iTaukei Affairs Board Chairman Apakuki Kurusiga had highlighted that the Provincial Councils were not up to date with the provision of their audited accounts which led to the backlog.

Kurusiga says when he joined in 2008, the last audited account was in 1996.

He says this year they will be submitting the draft accounts from 2008 to 2013 to the Auditor General.

Meanwhile the Principal Accounts Officer for the iTaukei Affairs Board Sereana Matakibau says the reason for the backlog was no accounting system in place and a manual based auditing process was being used.

Matakibau says they have set aside a special group of accountants to work on the audit backlog.

The Deputy Chairperson for the Public Accounts Committee Mohammed Dean says it can be concluded based on the lack of documentation prior to Apakuki Kurusiga taking over, that there was mismanagement in the provincial councils.        

Dean says they are looking forward to seeing the next batch of audit reports.