AG unhappy with Okahandja Municipality financial records

WINDHOEK, 07 APR  – The Okahandja Municipality has received an adverse audit opinion for the financial year ended 30 June 2016 from Auditor-General (AG) Junias Kandjeke.
The municipality’s financial accounts were tabled in the National Assembly by Deputy Minister of Finance, Natangwe Ithete last month.
An adverse opinion indicates that a company’s financial statements are misrepresented, misstated and do not accurately reflect its financial performance and health.
The municipality received an adverse audit opinion from the AG for several reasons, including lack of a proper asset register; lack of proper bank reconciliation; overstated salaries and wages; an outdated valuation roll; and the lack of proper records for pre-paid electricity sales.
Kandjeke is quoted as saying in the report that the municipality’s financial reports did not fairly present its financial position.
The report states that there was no updated fixed asset register which auditors could use for audit purposes, therefore auditors were unable to perform any tests on property, plants and equipment.
The municipality also failed to provide supporting documents for Build Together advances and Namibia Traffic Information System claims amounting to N.dollars 1 230 025 and N.dollars 3 262 184, respectively.
There were no proper bank reconciliation done and accuracy of Value Added Tax (VAT) receivable of N.dollars 12 576 915 could not be verified due to the fact that no VAT reconciliation was done.
The municipality still works on an outdated valuation roll of 2008, and tariffs for services rendered were still charged at 2013/14 rates.
The AG also found that the municipality did not keep proper record of prepaid electricity units sold, and that the salaries and wages do not reconcile.

NAMPA