The Commission on Audit (COA) has found the provincial government’s bank balances deemed “unreliable” with P40.5M in unreconciled items flagging financial management matters.

The Provincial Government of Oriental Mindoro is under scrutiny over alleged discrepancies in its cash holdings, with more than P1.6 billion in bank balances deemed unreliable by auditors.

An Agency Action Plan and Status of Implementation report for 2023, released on August 16, 2024, identified several financial irregularities that have raised questions about the province’s fiscal management practices.

The audit uncovered a P7.8 million disparity between bank account balances recorded in the subsidiary ledger and the cashbook.

More troubling was the failure to adjust book reconciling items worth P40.5 million, alongside P1.04 million in doubtful bank reconciling items that contravened established financial guidelines.

The discrepancies breach several regulatory frameworks, including the Local Treasury Operations Manual, Commission on Audit (COA) Circular No. 96-011, and International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS), COA said.

Auditors made three key recommendations to address the financial management shortcomings.

The Acting Provincial Treasurer was instructed to ensure timely submission of bank-related documents, including Reports of Collections and Deposits (RCDs) and debit/credit memos, to prevent unrecorded cash transactions.

Both the Provincial Accountant and Acting Provincial Treasurer were urged to intensify efforts to locate missing documents from previous years for proper adjustment.

The Provincial Accountant was also recommended to coordinate with the Acting Provincial Treasurer to clear bank reconciling items requiring consultation with depository banks.

As of the report date, all three recommendations were marked as “partially implemented.”

Provincial Accountant Althea Fagutaya outlined corrective actions taken in a letter dated May 16, 2024.

These included preparing journal entry vouchers to address unrecorded deposits and credit memos, as well as resolving excess salary loan remittances totalling P26.4 million from satellite hospitals between October and December 2023.

The report noted that unrecorded deposits from satellite hospitals worth P26.4 million were fully accounted for in January-February 2024 transactions, though an undetermined discrepancy of P193,439 remained against the amount indicated in the Audit Observation Memorandum.

Moreover, Official Receipts dated May 16, 2024 were issued for P257,227 in unrecorded check deposits from Power One Corporation, dated November and December 2023, which are scheduled for inclusion in the May 2024 RCD.

The Agency Action Plan and Status of Implementation was signed by Provincial Accountant Althea Fagutaya and Governor Humerlito “Bonz” Dolor.