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OPA report: $6.3 million remains recoverable
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Posted on Jan 05 2009
The Attorney General’s Office has failed to follow up with the Office of the Public Auditor on the status of 13 audit reports, totaling approximately $2.6 million, according to OPA.
In the Public Auditor’s Dec. 31 summary of the first six months of 2008, the OPA reports it has not received updates on the legal status of the cases. Therefore, the 13 cases from the previous report ending Dec. 31, 2007, remain unchanged.
The OPA also identified approximately$3.7 million in potential recovered money in eight audit reports to various agencies. Again, the Public Auditor did not receive any updates from Jan. 1 to June 30, therefore the $3.7 million from the previous report remains potentially recoverable.
OPA tracked 49 audits during the first six months of 2008, all remaining open or resolved. Of those, 32 are considered delinquent, according to OPA’s summary. Delinquent means the recommendations have been open for at least 180 days and the Public Auditor has not been contacted with any updates. The number of delinquent audits increased 6 percent from 30 to 32 during the first six months of 2008 compared to the same period in 2007.
Agencies with delinquents audits as of June 30 include: the Commonwealth Ports Authority, Commonwealth Utilities Corp., Department of Finance, Department of Public Lands, Department of Public Safety, Marianas Visitors Authority, Northern Marianas Islands Retirement Fund, Northern Marianas College and the Public School System.
In the report, OPA also included recommendations issued by private certified public accountant firms, which issued 11 audit reports with 122 recommendations.
“OPA is not responsible for the implementation of those recommendations, but they are included for monitoring purposes,” according to the report.
