Fiji Broadcasting Corporation chief executive, Riyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, today clarified to the Public Accounts Committee that the public service money paid by the government for Public Broadcast Services provided by the FBC should always have been recorded as income.

He provided the clarifications while making submissions to the Public Accounts Committee on the 2015 Audit Report on State Owned Entities and Statutory Authorities.

FBC’s financial report was tabled in the last parliament sitting and today the company was called before the standing committee to clarify on two specific issues.

The PSB contract between the government and FBC see’s the FBC being paid money to provide a whole range of public broadcasting services which until 2015 was treated as capital contribution and has only been treated as income since 2016.

Sayed-Khaiyum says following the decision FBC adopted the revised treatment of recording government funding as revenues in Profit and Loss statement as per International Financial Reporting Standard.

“We don’t see it as reliance we see it as a fees that we are paid for a service that we provide, it’s just like going into an open market and a client coming to us and saying we want certain services for FBC to perform and in return we receive a revenue from them so it is the same way.”

Impairment Assessment of Plant and Equipment was also discussed whereby it was confirmed that FBC made progress with the impairment testing and the issue was not highlighted in 2016 /2017 report.

FBC is the only media company providing AM services to Fijians.