Auditor General Pamela Monroe Ellis has raised concerns that poor record-keeping continues to plague municipal corporations across Jamaica, jeopardising accountability and efficiency. While the Government plans to implement processing software to improve accounting and documentation, Monroe Ellis warns that unless fundamental issues are addressed — such as maintaining proper financial records and securing important documents — the system will fail

Monroe Ellis: IT systems alone won’t fix municipal accounting gaps

Jamaica Gleaner/12 Feb 2025/Christopher Thomas/ Gleaner Writer 

AUDITOR GENERAL Pamela Monroe Ellis says the proposed implementation of processing software to streamline accounting and recordkeeping at the nation’s municipal corporations will not be effective if the underlying issues currently affecting their documentation processes are not resolved.

Monroe Ellis outlined the position during Tuesday’s sitting of Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee at Gordon House, where it was disclosed that the process for potential bidders to submit their proposals to install the software will end on February 28. This will be followed by the awarding of contracts for the project by the end of July.

“Even if your information technology (IT) systems fail, you should have the hard evidence – the paper evidence – to support it, and that is lacking,” said Monroe Ellis. “We have to consider the real issues, in terms of how the municipal corporations and the accounting staff account for the information, completing a cashbook, having evidence of the journal entries made, and securing payment vouchers.”

“We see where, for some payment vouchers, the explanation given is that a hurricane came, and they never secured them. One body complained that the records were sequestered, and when they were returned, they became infested, where rats and other pests wreaked havoc on them,” continued Monroe Ellis.“we have to now consider how we go about securing the accounting records, and whereas the IT system should help with the efficiency, if those fundamental issues are not addressed, what we are going to hear down the line is that the IT system failed, and we are going to lose the records.”

The auditor general said that while the records acquired from three of Jamaica’s municipal corporations stand as evidence that proper recordkeeping can be done at those levels, her office will be overwhelmed if each corporation’s yearly audit reports are not submitted on time.

“There are three councils that have been able to secure their information and submit it, and that is Trelawny, Portland, and Manchester. That, to me, is an example that it is possible … . An IT solution is really just automating your business processes, so if your business processes are not right, you are going to have a problem doing that migration to an IT system, and it is not going to work if your fundamental control environment is weak,” she said.

“I do believe that the control environment of the municipal corporations needs to be strengthened as a part of the upgrading and automation of the business processes. Training and awareness of the personnel, I think that is fundamental and also having a basic understanding of the roles and responsibilities in accounting for government resources.”

Last month, Monroe Ellis reported that she had disclaimers of opinion for six municipal corporations due to failure to submit financial statements with audit evidence, along with other records to support transactions and account balances in the handling of billions of taxpayer dollars. The specified municipalities were Hanover, Clarendon, Westmoreland, St Mary, St James, and Portmore.

A disclaimer of opinion is issued when the auditor is unable to obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence on which to base the audit opinion, and the auditor concludes that the possible effects on the financial statements of undetected misstatements, if any, could be both material and pervasive.

In the meantime, Marsha Henry Smith, permanent secretary in the Ministry of Local Government and Community Development, told Tuesday’s meeting that the installation of the processing software will depend on what the prospective bidders may propose, as well as the needs of each municipal corporation regarding infrastructural hardware and other challenges.

For feedback: contact the Editorial Department at onlinefeedback@gleanerjm.com.