Watchdog calls out government over ‘sloppy’ accounts

The public sector watchdog has penned a blistering review of the government’s management of taxpayer funds, blaming sloppiness, fatigue and a lack of skilled staff for a spike in deficient accounts.

In a report released on Thursday, Auditor General Caroline Spencer revealed the number of qualified audit opinions across government departments and bodies had risen for the third consecutive year.

Auditor General Caroline Spencer has delivered a harsh assessment of the WA public sector.

She said the concerning trend pointed to an “unacceptable” lack of controls in the administration of the public purse.

The number of government entities with serious deficiencies requiring a qualified opinion rose from 17 to 21 in the past twelve months. A total of 35 were identified as having less pressing concerns.

However, with nine audits still yet to be completed, Spencer warned that the number demanding review could top 41.

There was a 38 per cent rise in the number of unresolved audits, with almost 20 per cent of government bodies filing their financial statements more than 38 days late.

Spencer also reported a drop in the quality of the information being lodged, with supporting evidence incomplete and financial statements littered with errors.

With deficiencies recorded across critical areas, including payroll, revenue and computer controls, Spencer said the findings were evidence of significant shortcomings which would expose the agencies to error and fraud.

While conceding COVID-induced illness had made the reporting season challenging, Spencer said it did not fully explain the decline in financial control and reporting performance.

Instead, she pinned the spike in audit issues on a shortage of skilled finance and IT professionals, as well as machinery of government changes in 2017, which led to control breakdowns and pressure on personnel.

Spencer implored the government to prioritise improvements to financial management controls and reporting, recommending all bodies review their processes, ensure their financial teams were adequately resourced and better monitor compliance.

“To rectify the adverse trends we have identified, there will need to be determined commitment across the sector and an understanding that sloppiness around key controls within our public sector financial framework is not acceptable in the administration of public finances,” she said.

“After all, in the public sector it is all other people’s money, requiring a higher standard of diligence and accountability than we may individually choose to adopt in our personal finances, or which may be acceptable in a private entity.”

According to the audit report, more than half of the state’s 132 government bodies were alerted to 385 control weaknesses that required rectification in the last 12 months, the majority of which were related to spending and payroll issues.

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