MARGAO
Did the Cuncolim Municipal Council throw to the winds the internal accounts reconciliation exercise for close to a decade in violation of the Goa Municipalities Act and which may now cost the civic body a whopping Rs 15 lakh to put the accounts in order?
A private chartered accountant’s firm is believed to have quoted Rs 1.5 lakh to carry out the reconciliation process for each of the 10 years.
Inquiries have brought to light the startling revelations that the Cuncolim civic body did not carry out the reconciliation process for 10 long years, between 2007-17, before the audit party raised a query over the absence of the process in the civic body.
When The Goan called up CMC Chief Officer Shankar Gaonkar to shed light on the failure of the civic body to carry out the mandatory reconciliation exercise, he said his office has sent a proposal to the Director of Municipal Administration to grant administrative approval to the civic body to engage the CA and make the Rs 15 lakh payment. “I have no comments to offer why the reconciliation exercise was not carried out by the civic body during the last 10 years,” he said, while conceding that the Goa Municipalities Act provides for the compulsory internal audit of accounts of the civic bodies.
The Indian Audit and Accounts Department had in its 2015-16 audit report of the Cuncolim civic body clearly stated that internal control system is an integral process by which an organization governs its activities effectively to achieve its objectives. “Such a system consists of methods and policies designed to prevent fraud, minimize errors, promote operating efficiency and achieve compliance with established policies and helps to protect resources against loss due to waste, abuse and management. Internal checks are also helpful in periodic evaluation of the level of compliances with financial and other departmental rules and procedures and provide assurance to the management on the adequacy or otherwise of the existing internal controls,” the audit report stated.
The audit report had further observed that the internal control system is virtually absent as cash book, accounts and maintenance of various records reflect serious omissions and shortcomings.
It was also observed that there is gross managerial negligence in normal municipal council functioning and also monitoring of various important and urgent works and activities. In fact, the 2015-16 audit report had found out huge unreconciled difference in grants receipts, utilization and balance figures.
The report had also highlighted the failure to take action for timely renewal of fixed deposits with various banks, besides the unauthorized appropriation of grants and municipal funds leasing to messing up of basic cash and bank records. Gross negligence by management in ascertaining periodic cash inflow/ outflow position; inordinate delay in utilization of grants within the specified period and delay in submission of UCs; improper maintenance in grants in aid register; non-recording of certain cash and bank transactions like bank charges, bank interest etc in cash book were some of the observations made by the audit in the 2015-16 report.
