KINGSTON, Jamaica. Thursday, June 20, 2024: The Ministry of Health and Wellness notes the concerns raised in the public domain and by the Auditor General on the non-compliance with the Financial Administration and Audit Act (FAA) for the submission of the appropriation accounts since 2013.
It is further noted that the matter was raised at the last meeting of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and the Ministry at which point the Permanent Secretary, Mr. Dunstan Bryan outlined a series of actions that were to be undertaken to bring up-to-date the statements for the outstanding 10 years.
Under Section 24(I) of the FAA Act, Ministries Department and Agencies are required to provide statements that show the resources that have been provided from the Consolidated Fund based on the budget approved by Parliament. This Statement shows the total cash received by objects and activities and provides a breakdown of each transaction, clearly showing any over or under expenditure.
Since the implementation of this special intervention, the Ministry’s team has prepared 90% of the statement to March 31, 2022, however, these statements have not been certified by the Internal Auditors as per the requirement of the FAA Act due to:
- Errors with the legacy Accounting Software (FinMan)
- Financial Year 2013 – 2018 having system related issues due to missing Data from General Ledger Control Accounts.
- Appropriation in Aid (AIA) expenditure source of funds not being displayed on the Appropriation Accounts of the Ministry.
- Access to the FinMan server for multiple users due to the legacy issues affecting the software.
In the last correspondence to the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service dated April 22, 2024, there was a commitment to assess the issues and amend the software. The Ministry awaits these actions. –
- Unsigned payment vouchers by officers no longer employed to the Ministry due to death, resignation and retirement, and the unwillingness of the current staff to validate and verify transactions and statements outside of the period of their service. This is required for a certification to be provided by the Internal Audit team.
- For Financial Year 2018-2019 and 2019-2020: These financial years are currently having system related issues as the Undischarged Commitment Control Account is being displayed on the wrong side of the Trial balance. This issue is currently being investigated by the Ministry of Health and Wellness Final Accounts team and the Accountant General’s Department.
The Ministry wishes to also advise that its entire team remains committed to the efforts to comply with the FAA Act and dialogue with the Ministry of Finance on the varied issues affecting the process is ongoing.
The team has registered more than 300 extra hours of work related to this transaction. It is to be further noted that the Ministry has completed and certified by the Internal Audit Units the Appropriation accounts for two Departments i.e. the Government Chemist and the Bellevue Hospital.