By Omar Bah
The National Audit Office has urged public institutions to submit their financial statements before the end of March next year.
In a statement shared with The Standard, the Auditor General reminded public institutions about the submission of timely, complete, and accurate financial statements for audit.
As per the statutory requirements, financial statements should be submitted three months after a financial year ends (by 31st March of the new financial year).
“Late submission of financial statements, and in some cases, submission of incomplete financial statements continues to be one of the key challenges for the National Audit Office (NAO), resulting in the extension of the audit completion and reporting timeline. As we close another financial year, the custodians of public resources are reminded of their duty to ensure compliance with the applicable reporting standards and regulations in preparing financial statements as well as the general management and administration of public resources,” the NAO said.
In addition, it added, for institutions still in back-logs in their audits, the management of those institutions are reminded to make efforts in preparing their financial statements and prepare to be audited.
“All efforts are being made at the level of NAO to clear the audit backlogs, including the Consolidated Government of The Gambia Financial Statements audit; for the realisation of greater audit impact. NAO will continue to build on its stakeholder engagements to increase dialogue with all respective stakeholders on the audit issues/challenges and ways to address the gaps.
This we believe will help improve the audit service delivery and the implementation of audit recommendations.
“As we look forward to another new year, my team and I wish all our stakeholders a joyous festive season and a prosperous new year. We look forward to another year of enhanced collaborations and partnerships with all our diverse stakeholders.”
