Failing Grade - Auditors Find Widespread Breaches And Lax Systems At Garvey Maceo High School A Ministry of Education audit of operations at the Garvey Maceo High School in Clarendon has found dismal accounting and record-keeping procedures dating back to 2007. While the ministry has denied Sunday Gleaner requests for a copy of the audit, sources have provided the news centre with an interim report from the auditors who conducted their investigations at intervals between September 2012 to July 2013. According to education minister Ronald Thwaites, there are good reasons why the audit cannot be released at this time. The audit has been completed and the proceeds sent to the contractor general. The findings are such that we have hesitated to release them publicly because other procedures may ensue. We are not being cagey, but what we see may need the attention of others, said Thwaites. In the report sourced by our news team, the auditors said many of the weaknesses which were obvious in 2007 are still present this year, but the administrators were less than cooperative with the team conducting the probe. The school management was quite unresponsive and tardy to requests made for records/information and explanations relating to issues concerning the operational activities of the institution. This was evident prior to, during and after the audit was completed ... the auditors said in the report leaked to The Sunday Gleaner. Slowing progress But chairman of the school board, Winsett Thomas, argued that the involvement of the Office of the Contractor General in the probe could account for some of the delay, as the school has received documents from that office. We have filled them out and sent them back but, in my view, I believe they are duplicate documents because some similar documents were filled out, Thomas told The Sunday Gleaner. He said changes have already been made based on the audit findings. I now have a finance committee in place, and nothing will happen unless it comes to the board and is given approval ... . We will have to focus on the audit and I have already had discussions with the principal, and what we need are systems and a closer monitoring of the activities, added Thomas. In the report from the auditors seen by our news team, every department of the school received a failing grade while the bursary and its managers received the lowest mark, as the auditors painted a picture of an institution struggling because of poor management and a dismal accounting system. The auditors were unable to find documents to validate the spending of millions of dollars. Overpayment to staff In addition, the auditors said there were cases of overpayment to staff, poor or no record keeping, and that the administrators failed to pay over millions of dollars of statutory deductions from staff in a timely manner. A $6-million penalty was imposed on the school for its failure to make timely payments to the tax authorities. According to the auditors, the school was unable to provide bank documents to substantiate a $6.1-million payment, while documents to support the payment of $270,000 from petty cash to a school official could not be found. Missing numbers from payment vouchers; no requisition seen; no purchase order seen to indicate that the school initiated an offer to enter into an agreement with the supplier to provide the service; also, no quotation was seen from the supplier, were some of the issues highlighted by the auditors. Encashed cheques were not seen in payment voucher file (and) the full cost for (a) job was not indicated on the voucher on which the deposit was paid ..., were also concerns pointed out by the auditors. The findings said, Inter-account loans amounting to ($4,623,357.67) were seen paid back to the account; from the subvention, fee, breakfast, tuck shop and general accounts, but there was no system in place to indicate total loans granted and related loan balances ... . In supporting their claim that school officials were not cooperative the auditors said, Internal control questionnaires submitted to the bursar in October 2012 to be completed and returned to us is not yet received; queries highlighted in local observation and issued to the acting principal and bursar October 2, 2012, to date no response has been received from the schools management. The auditors further claimed that lodgement books for the schools income-generating account for the period July to August 2012 were not received by them, while bank statements for the school improvement programme account, for the periods June 2007, April 2008, May 2010, and September and October of the same year, 2010, were also not submitted by the administration. In another worrying sign, the auditors found that salary cheques amounting to just over $5.5 million were held in a filing cabinet and were accessible to all bursary staff. Of that amount, just over $279,000 was retroactive salaries paid July 24, 2012 to teachers who, at the time of audit, were no longer employed to the school.
Posted on: Mon, 02 Dec 2013 02:34:49 +0000
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