Auditor General Leigh Trotman, concerned that Government ministries and departments are being delinquent in providing timely financial information to his office, wants “credible sanctions” introduced to improve the situation.
He is recommending an amendment to the Public Finance Management Act to include fines and jail time for public sector officers who do not meet requirements for providing information to the Barbados Audit Office in a timely fashion.
Trotman raised his concerns in his 2021 annual report to Parliament, as he called last year “another challenging year for the Barbados Audit Office”.
He said the COVID-19 pandemic affected his department’s operations “due to a reduction in available man-hours, and the challenges faced in obtaining various documents and files for review from the ministries and departments”.
“As the year drew to a close, various measures were instituted to mitigate the impact of the challenges highlighted,” he reported. (SC)
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