Shania Shayal Prasad 
[Photo Credit: Parliament of Fiji]
The Agricultural Marketing Authority admits that until the 2023 financial year, its financial systems were largely manual, with critical documentation either missing or poorly maintained.
While presenting the 2021–2022 Audit Report to the Standing Committee on Public Accounts, AMA Financial Controller Ashika Naidu stated that the authority had inherited records plagued by gaps.
Naidu says this included a lack of stale cheque registers, monthly bank reconciliations, and formal inventory records.
[Photo Credit: Parliament of Fiji]
She states that many of the issues dated back to 2017, with problems persisting across several years of audit reviews.
Naidu adds that the lack of digital records significantly hindered AMA’s ability to reconcile accounts and respond to long-standing audit queries.
She says efforts to track variances, including uncashed cheques and unreconciled balances were hampered by poor filing systems and outdated processes.
The AMA Financial Controller says the transition to digital systems has helped resolve many of the outstanding issues, but acknowledged that full rectification is still ongoing.
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