Sanctions pushed vs DICT execs for late submission of fiscal reports

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THE Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) has repeatedly failed to meet the deadlines on the submission of its Financial Statements (FS) in the past three years, prompting the Commission on Audit to (COA) to seek sanctions against responsible officials, including suspension of pay and filing of administrative charges.

In a Management Letter posted on November 6, 2023, government auditors disclosed that the DICT has failed to heed yearly reminders to comply with the timetable on the submission of the year-end and quarterly FS, the supporting account schedules, and subsidiary ledgers.

The yearend FS are supposed to be submitted no later than February 14 the year after while quarterly FS are required to be turned over to the audit team within 10 days from the end of each quarter.

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Auditors require the said documents to facilitate referencing and monitoring and identifying accountabilities.

Among the unsubmitted financial reports that should have been part of the FS were the aging of accounts, schedule of income taxes paid, schedule of fund transfer, statement of management responsibility, statement of comparison of budget and actual amounts.

According to the DICT management, it was able to submit the 2022 year-end FS on May 2, 2023 but excluding the Statement of Management Responsibility.

Electronic copies of the complete year-end FS for 2021 was submitted to the COA only on June 28, 2022 while the complete hardcopy was handed to the audit team only on May 2, 2023.

“The delayed submission of the financial reports and records has been a yearly observation of the AT (audit team). In CYs 2020 and 2021, the DICT failed to submit its FS within the prescribed period that necessarily should be supported with complete schedules and SLs (subsidiary ledgers),” the audit team pointed out.

“Failure of officials/employees concerned to comply shall cause the automatic suspension of the payment of their salaries and other emoluments until they have complied. Violation of at least three consecutive times shall subject the offender to administrative disciplinary action,” it added.

The COA recommended that the DICT Legal Services review the records and recommend to the DICT secretary the appropriate action based on Presidential Decree No. 1445 or the Government Auditing Code of the Philippines, specifically the “suspension of salaries of those officials/employees responsible.”

In its comment on the findings, the DICT management said it concurs with the audit recommendations.

It notified the COA that it has hired additional manpower for the Accounting Department to speed up processes and avoid recurrence of delays.

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