Parliament

Need for standardized financial framework for all councils

April 8, 2019 12:24 pm

Current PAC Chair Alvick Maharaj

There is a need to have a standardized financial system in place for all councils.

This was among the recommendations in the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Accounts review report of the 2014 Audit of the Municipal councils.

The report’s content was debated on in Parliament at length last week with which highlighted that while the majority of issues had been dealt with, there was a need to align the financial framework for all councils.

Article continues after advertisement

Current PAC Chair Alvick Maharaj told the House that the central government’s own financial reforms was an example that could be replicated.

“In Fiji, municipal councils have not been included in this reform process and do not have access to reporting requirements from FMIS and the Ministry of Economy. In moving forward it was noted that councils and the central departments of local government could learn from practice all of government system and processes which are currently in place and adopt a standardizing accounting system for all municipal councils for consistency in reporting and auditing purposes.”

PAC member and Opposition MP Aseri Radrodro supported the adoption of a uniform financial system.

However, he highlighted how behind the council audits were, in one example, one council’s most recent audited accounts were seven years old.