Chair of the Public Accounts Committee, Alvick Maharaj [Source: Parliament of the Republic of Fiji/Facebook]

The audit of Provincial Councils is backlogged by nine years or more.

This is because of the non-submission of financial statement to the Auditor General’s Office.

Chair of the Public Accounts Committee, Alvick Maharaj tabled in parliament the audit reports from 2006 to 2010 for various provincial councils.

He says some financial statements have not been submitted since 1999.

“The then management of the iTaukei Affairs Board failed to make timely submissions of the financial statements has resulted in the audit backlog. The current TAB management has put in some strategies which has resulted in the reduction of audit backlog”.

A target has been set to complete all audit backlogs in this financial year with a special task-force appointed.

The Auditor General’s Office has so far audited 123 financial statements from all 14 Provincial Councils.