Lifting of pre-audit risky for officials

CEBU, Philippines - Cebu City accountant Marietta Gumia said that the lifting of pre-audit may speed up the process of government transactions but it also presents disadvantages especially in the implementation of infrastructure projects.

Gumia said unlike the Commission on Audit, the city accounting office has no technical personnel who can evaluate the technical aspects of the projects or conduct inspection if applicable because her office only based their examination on documents submitted to their office.

Gumia said the pre-audit also helps the government to discover early the discrepancies of their requirements so they have time to correct it before a project is implemented.

“Ang advantage pud unta sa pre-audit is dili na sila mu-post audit if post audit is no longer necessary or at least gamay na lang ang i-comply during post audit,” Gumia said.

Now that the pre-audit has been lifted, Gumia said the government will not be given observations but will directly issue notice of suspension or disallowance in which the signatories of the vouchers will beheld liable.

“That’s the risk for the accountant, the examiners and the signatories,” Gumia said.

COA issued a Circular No. 2011-002 in July 22 lifting the pre-audit of government transactions. COA also ordered the return of all pending vouchers to the agency concerned.

Some city officials were delighted to the recent rule of COA because it would speed up the implementation of the projects and would fast track the payment to contractors and suppliers.

But as of yesterday, COA in Cebu City only returned seven vouchers so far.

These seven vouchers include a voucher under Dr. Myrna Go’s name, salary of the beneficiaries of the Special Program for the Employment of Students, a voucher worth P3 million for the Cebu Surgical and Medical Enterprises, for Geronimo Malabago, for Berovan Marketing and the voucher for the final payment of E.M. Arante Construction worth P6 million.

Gumia said she has no idea how many vouchers are pending at COA because it is the City Administrator’s Office that submits the vouchers to COA for pre-audit.

Before COA Circular No. 2011-002, all government transactions worth P2 million and above are subjected to pre-audit. — (FREEMAN)