Braddan Parish Commissioners Finances - October 2009
Press Release
Braddan Parish Commissioners
9th September 2009
Braddan Parish Commissioners are conscious that concern has been expressed recently by a member of the public, on a number of Manx Radio Mannin Line programmes, questioning why several years’ annual accounts of the Authority have not yet been signed off by the Auditors. The Commissioners share this concern, but prefer to have the accounts thoroughly audited in preference to a quick and perfunctory inspection.
It is now well known that, following March 2007, a significant deficit was revealed by the Authority, and the Commissioners were gravely concerned about this situation; particularly as they had been previously provided with printed financial information predicting the accounts would be in surplus at the year end.
An immediate investigation was launched by the Commissioners - with the help and advice of the Dept of Local Government and Treasury’s Internal Audit division - to discover how such a situation could have occurred without their knowledge and to learn what measures could be put in place to prevent it from happening again.
This investigation raised a number of issues, some of which stretched back over a considerable period of years, which have had an impact on the treatment of certain items of expenditure and a knock-on effect on the auditing, and signing-off, of the accounts.
A comprehensive report was produced for the Commissioners identifying a number of weaknesses in their procedures and making a wide range of recommendations – all of which, have been or, are now being addressed; and the Commissioners and the Department are now satisfied the Authority has much more robust and rigorous procedures in place.
As a result the Commissioners are confident that a similar situation is now far less likely to re-occur, or it will be identified at an early stage, and successfully addressed before it becomes a significant problem.
However, the Auditors still have several areas of concern relating to the accounts ending March 2006 and these are currently being reviewed. Once the accounts for 2005/6 have been completed and signed off the Commissioners anticipate that the other outstanding accounts will be finalized reasonably quickly.
The Commissioners wish to reassure ratepayers that the Authority’s finances are now in a very healthy state and also wish to quash the rumour the Authority is £ ¼ million overdrawn. The Authority is not overdrawn and, in fact, does not have an overdraft facility at this moment in time.
Finally, the Commissioners wish to remind Braddan ratepayers they hold their main monthly Board meeting, generally the last Tuesday in the month, in public and remain the only Authority who formally provides time at the start of their meetings for ratepayers to ask the Board questions.
Also, as the result of a decision made at the September Board meeting, a pack of financial information is now made available for inspection by ratepayers at our public counter at our office in Snugborough.
Mrs M Hodge
Chairman
Braddan Parish Commissioners
Contact in the Office:
J C Whiteway
Clerk
852808
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