The Ministry of Health and Wellness says it is making progress with submitting outstanding financial reports for some 10 years.

This follows concerns raised by the Auditor General on the Ministry’s non-compliance with the Financial Administration and Audit Act (FAA) for the submission of appropriation accounts since 2013.

In a statement, the Health Ministry noted that the matter was raised at the last meeting of the Public Accounts Committee at which point Permanent Secretary Dunstan Bryan outlined a series of actions to be undertaken to bring the statements for the outstanding 10 years up-to-date.

Under the FAA act, ministries are required to provide statements of the resources that have been provided from the consolidated fund based on the budget approved by parliament.

The statement shows the total cash received by objects and activities and provides a breakdown of each transaction, clearly showing any over or under expenditure.

The ministry said its team has prepared 90 per cent of the statements up to March 31, 2022. However, these statements have not been certified by internal auditors due to errors with the legacy accounting software, among other issues.

It said in its last correspondence to the Ministry of Finance and Public Service dated April 22, 2024, there was a commitment to assess the issues and amend the software.

The Ministry said its entire team remains committed to the efforts to comply with the FAA Act.

It noted that dialogue with the Ministry of Finance on the varied issues affecting the process, is ongoing.   It said its team has registered more than 300 extra hours of work related to this transaction.

The ministry further noted that it has completed and had certified by the internal audit units, the appropriation accounts for two departments, those are the Government Chemist and the Bellevue Hospital.