By Hassan Osman Kargbo
As a way to minimize if not to stop mismanagement of public funds in Ministries Departments and Agencies in the country, the Auditor General whose mandate is to check and cross-check the activities of different institutions has issued its 2022 Audit report and has brought to light the dubious activities of the Sierra Leone Airports Authority in the country.
According to Audit report 2022, the Sierra Leone Airports Authority had done Payments without Adequate Supporting Documents Payments which amounted to SLE668, 825 were made without adequate supporting documents such as receipts, invoices, delivery notes, beneficiaries list, air tickets, service level agreements and reports.
As a result, the Report recommended that the head of finance provide the missing supporting documents to account for the expenditures recorded in the cashbook for the financial year; otherwise, they should refund the full amount to the Authority’s bank account, and evidence of refund submitted to the Audit Serves Sierra Leone.
On the side of the Institution, in response to the claimed made by the audit, it reported that adequate supporting documents had been attached to the various payment vouchers, and they are available for verification.
The report admitted that the Sierra Leone Airports Authority did not provide an approved standard receivable policy, which would serve as a Standard operating Procedure for the recognition, measurement and disclosure of receivables. The lack of an SOP has led to poor management of receivables, resulting from inefficient debt collection, inadequate customer database and inconsistency in the management of receivables. This had led to material misstatement in the Financial Statements
The Audit Serves recommended that the head of finance should ensure that a policy for the effective management of receivables is developed and submitted to the Board of Directors for approval. Evidence of actions taken should be submitted to the ASSL.
The Audit committed that evidence to support Management’s action in its strive to develop an approved receivables policy was not submitted and verified and their recommendations were not implemented. The issue is unresolved.
The report furthered that following the takeover of the running of the airport by the Summa Group, its noted that all the existing customer agreements with the Authority were terminated. This led to serious doubt of the recoverability of the receivables in the books of the Sierra Leone Airport Authority. A general provision was provided for 20% of the total receivable balances without considering specific provision for the remaining 80% receivable balance.
As a result, they report recommended that the head of finance should ensure that the basis or justification for the general provision be made, and the specific provision for the remaining 80% provided and submitted to the ASSL.
