Shania Shayal Prasad 
The Agricultural Marketing Authority wrote off over $315,000 in outstanding trade receivables and $89,000 in unsubstantiated payables in the 2023 financial year.
This follows years of financial anomalies noted in the Auditor General’s reports.
Responding to questions about the 2021-2022 Audit Report before the Standing Committee on Public Accounts, AMA Financial Controller Ashika Naidu explained that the authority had exhausted all options to recover some of the debts, some dating back several years.
She adds that the cost of legal action would have outweighed the debt’s value, leading the board to approve the write-off.
“It wasn’t an easy task since not all the information and documents were available, and the staff who managed these accounts are no longer with us. We have a new finance team now.”
Naidu also states that AMA addressed $89,000 in trade and other payables that had been carried over without proper documentation or vendor records.
She stresses that tighter financial controls have been implemented, including new accounting systems (MYOB and Linksoft) and updated policies for documentation and monthly reconciliations.
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