Over a five-year period, the Bridge Authority not only lost nearly $700K but also was reportedly riddled with deficiencies. Minister of Works and Utilities, Bradley Roberts made the startling revelation Wednesday.
Mr Roberts, who was appointed minister responsible for the Authority in May 2002, tabled the company’s audited financial statements between 1999 and 2005 in The House of Assembly.
The accounting firm “BDO Mann Judd” completed the financial statements between 1999 and 2004 and revealed that in 1999, the Authority lost $245,302 but experienced a profit of $16,054 in 2000. The Authority also had a profit in 2001 of $8,043 but experienced a significant loss of $405,676 in 2002.
In 2003, the company’s loss was still significant at $210,563, however, it rebounded in 2004 with a profit of $415,769. When the figures over the five-year period were tallied, the Authority ended up losing $691.675.
Mr Roberts said apart from the loss, the Authority’s General Manager, Dennis Mackey advised him that there were a number of audit deficiencies. These included the inadequate safeguarding of cash receipts at the toll plaza from the time of collection to pick-up by armoured trucks, and the inadequate safeguarding of cash receipts that were not reconciled on a daily basis in accordance with corresponding transactions in the computerised revenue system.
In addition, the Authority’s vault variation schedules and vault reconciliation reports were reportedly not reconciled daily, to ensure that all cash receipts were properly collected and recorded. Daily deposit slips were also reportedly not properly reconciled to the vault variation report, to ensure all monetary receipts were recorded and collected. Further, classification overrides and gate exception reports were said not to be audited to preclude defalcation of cash receipts.
However, Mr Roberts pointed out that such deficiencies were corrected by November 2004.
By: MINDELL SMALL, The Nassau Guardian
