The territory's historically "rather poor" track record for addressing federal audit recommendations hasn't gotten any better lately, the territory's representative of the federal Office of Inspector General told the Senate Finance Committee Wednesday.
Arnold van Beverhoudt Jr., Inspector General regional audit manager, cited 36 audit reports dating back to 1991 in which 125 recommendations are unresolved, and another 81 that the government has agreed to but failed to implement.
He said the V.I. government is still not in full compliance with the federal Single Audit Act of 1984. The territory's single audit reports for fiscal years 1984-1990 didn't include audits of or opinions on the government's financial statements and were published anywhere from three to six years after the end of each fiscal year, he said.
Any government entity that spends $300,000 or more in federal funds in any fiscal year is required to have a single audit performed, van Beverhoudt said. Although the granting agencies "have not, so far, imposed sanctions for the government's non-compliance," he said, "the patience of those grantors is wearing thin."
Of 12 major programs examined as part of the single audit, he said, the auditors questioned costs totaling $11.5 million — almost 12 percent of the overall grant amounts. He said the auditors cited lack of documentation, lack of competitive procurement, lack of inventory records for federally funded equipment, errors in eligibility determinations of participants, and lack of timely use of grant funds drawn down.
No private business could exist without making accurate financial information available to its administrators, van Beverhoudt told the senators. He also said that many of the issues addressed in the Economic Recovery Task Force report recently submitted to the Turnbull administration had previously been reported by his office, sometimes repeatedly.
A Finance Committee meeting to review the Economic Recovery Task Force report is scheduled for 10 a.m. April 28 in the Senate chambers on St. Thomas.
