Officials From Mansakonko Area Council
By Ramatoulie Jawo
On Wednesday, February 28, 2024, the National Assembly Standing Committee on Finance and the Public Accounts Committee granted Mansakonko Area Council an extension to finalize their accounts spanning from 2020 to 2022.
During the session, Mansakonko Area Council presented its financial statements and activity reports for the years ending December 31, 2020, to 2022. However, they were unable to present their documents for review and approval due to incomplete accounts.
Former Chief Executive Director of Mansakonko Area Council, Seedy K. Touray, informed the committee that the accounts for 2020, 2021, and 2022 are all incomplete. He mentioned that the 2021 accounts are currently in draft form and awaiting submission to the National Audit Office for auditing. Similarly, the 2022 accounts are nearing completion.
In response to queries from the committee chairman, Alhagie S. Darboe, regarding the timeline for submitting the 2020 accounts for auditing, Mr. Touray expressed optimism, stating, “I hope we can submit the 2020 accounts before the end of March.”
Bubacarr M. Jallow, representing the National Audit Office, emphasized the importance of adherence to proper procedures in submitting accounts for auditing, stressing the need for a systematic approach.
“The objective of preparing financial statements is to have credible financial statements, if the financial statements are not following sequence there is highly likely that we are not going to receive credible financial statements. And if we don’t receive credible financial statements at the end of the day, we are going to issue opinions, but they are not going to be good opinions. They can be adverse opinions or disclaimers,” he said
He emphasized the necessity of adhering to the prescribed methodology to ensure the completion of early years’ tasks before advancing to later years.
“That is to state that if you have miss stated the 2019 accounts, the balance in 2019 is going to affect 2020-2022, so if those things are not put into consideration is like we are just submitting to meet the legislative requirement so that the entire objective will be defended,” he said.
The committee also reached a consensus to grant the council until March 31, 2024, to finalize their accounts and submit them for audit by the National Audit Office (NAO). Upon completion, the NAO will notify the committee to reschedule the council’s subsequent meetings