Audit Urges Inquiry Into 9.8 Million Dalasis in Long-Unpaid Supplier Bills at GPPC

By Fatou Sillah

The Gambia Printing and Publishing Corporation has been urged to investigate nearly 9.9 million dalasis in supplier invoices that have remained unpaid for more than three years, according to findings in the corporation’s 2022 audit report.

The report was presented before the Public Enterprise Committee of the National Assembly of The Gambia, raising concerns about the accuracy of the corporation’s financial statements and the integrity of its accounting records.

Auditors found that the corporation’s trade payables stood at 14,762,150 dalasis in its draft financial statements. Of that amount, 9,885,727 dalasis—roughly 67 percent—relates to supplier invoices that have been outstanding for over three years without any recorded payments.

“Given the economic situation in the country, it would be hard to believe that the corporation can owe that much money to private companies without them taking legal action to recover their money,” the audit report states.

The auditors warned that the size and age of the unpaid balances suggest the trade payable figure at year’s end could be materially misstated, noting that a substantial portion of the liabilities “may not exist.”

The report recommends that management conduct a thorough investigation into the long-outstanding balances and make immediate corrections where necessary. For legitimate debts, auditors advised renegotiating payment terms to facilitate timely settlement.

They further recommended that the board and senior management include a standing agenda item at every scheduled meeting to review the status of trade payables, an oversight measure intended to prevent similar discrepancies in the future.

In its response, management said it had undertaken a reconciliation exercise and identified certain payables for which no goods or services had been provided. As of Feb. 25, 2025, the corporation said it had raised a journal entry to remove 1,002,131.13 dalasis from its books.