Page 4540 - Week 15 - Tuesday, 6 December 1994
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As I said at the time, it is the case that those reconciliations had been outstanding since well prior to self-government. This was hardly a new issue that the Auditor-General was raising, although he had not raised it on any previous occasion. Yes, Treasury is working very hard on the reconciliations. I can advise members that substantial progress has been made and is continuing.
In regard to the Territory public account, the data extraction and analysis have progressed into November; they are getting up to date on that. The drawing account is at mid-October. Again, substantial progress has been made. The reconciliations on the credit card settlement account are current. I can further advise that the net overall position currently is that the public moneys banked actually exceed the ledger postings. However, I take the Auditor-General's point.
Mrs Carnell: That is not good either; they have to be the same.
MS FOLLETT: I agree that they should be the same, but at the moment those reconciliations are not finally completed. There has been a great deal of progress made. Mrs Carnell has also made a point concerning the qualifications of officers in Treasury. While I am generally in agreement with the Auditor-General on the point that we ought to be using as many qualified accountants as we can, I am not aware that that lack of qualified accountants has actually resulted in a great deal of harm in the way that Treasury manages the financial affairs of the Territory. Treasury will continue to try to recruit the best qualified officers that it possibly can.
Finally, in regard to timeliness, I would like to say that much of Treasury's effort around budget time is directed to finalising matters more or less on behalf of other departments and agencies, and that was certainly the case with their final accounting this year. Nevertheless, I take the Auditor-General's comments seriously, as does the Treasury. They will be working to ensure that their own timeliness does improve, and they will also be working with other departments and agencies to try to ensure that, overall, not just the financial management but also the reporting of that financial management are carried out in as timely and as effective a manner as is humanly possible. They have made great strides. There is progress still to be made; I accept that.
MRS CARNELL: I have a supplementary question, Madam Speaker. Chief Minister, the Auditor-General actually found that none of the officers involved in the preparation of the 1993-94 Treasury financial statements had any accounting qualifications and that a firm of private accountants had to be engaged to assist in the preparation of these statements. If, as the Health Minister often says, there are doctors doctoring and nurses nursing in our hospitals, why are there not accountants accounting in Treasury?
MS FOLLETT: Madam Speaker, I found this comment from the Auditor-General somewhat strange, given that he actually contracts out a large amount of his own audit activity to accounting firms. I have said before that I expect Treasury to recruit as many qualified people as they can; but I have to say that, in the preparation of the budget, I certainly did not notice a lack of accountants. That was not my observation. The work that they did was extremely professional; it was certainly done in a manner that I, as Treasurer, was happy with. However, as I say, the Auditor-General actually contracts a large amount of expertise in the course of his own work.
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