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Coffeeshop Chit Chat - Lapses And Fumbles By Top Govt Agencies</TD><TD id=msgunetc noWrap align=right> </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE class=msgtable cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="96%"><TBODY><TR><TD class=msg vAlign=top><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgbfr1 width="1%"> </TD><TD><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0><TBODY><TR class=msghead vAlign=top><TD class=msgF width="1%" noWrap align=right>From: </TD><TD class=msgFname width="68%" noWrap>kojakbt_89 <NOBR></NOBR> </TD><TD class=msgDate width="30%" noWrap align=right>12:50 am </TD></TR><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgT height=20 width="1%" noWrap align=right>To: </TD><TD class=msgTname width="68%" noWrap>ALL <NOBR></NOBR></TD><TD class=msgNum noWrap align=right> (1 of 3) </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgleft rowSpan=4 width="1%"> </TD><TD class=wintiny noWrap align=right>33789.1 </TD></TR><TR><TD height=8></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgtxt>Lapses And Fumbles By Top Government Agencies
May 27th, 2010 |
Author: Contributions
In a Channel NewsAsia report, four government agencies, the Media Development Authority (MDA), Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI), Ministry of Education (MOE) and Mindef have been singled out for errors in the way their finances are managed.
According to the latest Public Accounts Committee report issued, there were three main reasons behind these lapses.
The errors were found to be a result of laxity in procurement and contract management, lack of rigour in scrutiny by approving authorities and too light a touch in ministry-statutory board dealings.
In particular, the MDA was found to have the most number of lapses which the committee felt “reflected poorly on the overall internal controls of the MDA”.
These delays include slow refunding of over S$6 million in Radio and TV license fees. At the time of the 2008 audit, MDA was still processing funds from three years back in 2005.
To rectify the problems, the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts said that since October 2009, two automated processes have been put in place to increase efficiency of refunds, which the MDA has since completed.
Other lapses include problems in the management of Public Service Broadcast programmes and also not having a good system for monitoring and enforcing compliance with broadcasting license conditions.
In addition, the Education Ministry was found to have paid more than necessary on school cleaning contracts while the Defence Ministry was rapped for carrying out wrongful certification in a consultancy project. This error resulting in an advance payment of S$289,499 to the Defence Science and Technology Agency.
In view of these audit book errors, the committee recommends that the Auditor-General’s Office consider a 2-3 year interval between reviews instead of the usual once in seven years.
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In a Channel NewsAsia report, four government agencies, the Media Development Authority (MDA), Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI), Ministry of Education (MOE) and Mindef have been singled out for errors in the way their finances are managed.
According to the latest Public Accounts Committee report issued, there were three main reasons behind these lapses.
The errors were found to be a result of laxity in procurement and contract management, lack of rigour in scrutiny by approving authorities and too light a touch in ministry-statutory board dealings.
In particular, the MDA was found to have the most number of lapses which the committee felt “reflected poorly on the overall internal controls of the MDA”.
These delays include slow refunding of over S$6 million in Radio and TV license fees. At the time of the 2008 audit, MDA was still processing funds from three years back in 2005.
To rectify the problems, the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts said that since October 2009, two automated processes have been put in place to increase efficiency of refunds, which the MDA has since completed.
Other lapses include problems in the management of Public Service Broadcast programmes and also not having a good system for monitoring and enforcing compliance with broadcasting license conditions.
In addition, the Education Ministry was found to have paid more than necessary on school cleaning contracts while the Defence Ministry was rapped for carrying out wrongful certification in a consultancy project. This error resulting in an advance payment of S$289,499 to the Defence Science and Technology Agency.
In view of these audit book errors, the committee recommends that the Auditor-General’s Office consider a 2-3 year interval between reviews instead of the usual once in seven years.
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