Solomons challenge

Auditor-General highlights lack of record keeping

THE lack of public sector asset record keeping is a growing management issue for the Solomon Islands. Solomon Islands Auditor-General Peter Lokay said the asset registers of several ministries were out of date. Lokay was among 20 participants present at the regional public financial management symposium organised by the Pacific Islands Center for Public Administration earlier this month.

The symposium had a special focus on asset management where Lokay described the situation in the Solomon Islands in relation to the management of public assets by government – where stakeholders have been unable to surmount obstacles which are preventing such arrangements. The Office of the Auditor General reviews the existence or otherwise of basic asset registers in each of the ministries and offices each year and discovered at the Office of the Accountant-General was unable to readily identify the assets, their costs, date of purchases and how their disposal had been administered for any ministry or office.

Lokay said as a result, none of the government ministries were able to determine the current number, location, condition, or value of assets owned, or whether any assets had been subjected to damage or theft, thereby exposing it to financial loss. 

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