Australian accounting software could now potentially be on the agenda in the territory, as recently, the Auditor-General revealed that billion-dollar worth of unaccounted errors were discovered after auditors in Australia submitted its financial records for last year.
The Auditor-General revealed in his report that the New South Wales public service department accountants had made billion dollars worth of errors.
According to the Auditor-General's report, billions of dollars worth of series of errors were left unaccounted for as the NSW Department accountants had erred 14 times, amounting between AUS$20 million (£13.4 million) and AUS$50 million. Another set of six errors were also discovered, amounting between AUS $100 million and AUS$1 billion. There were also four errors worth between $50 and 100 million whereas there was one error that was greater than $1 billion.
These series of errors being reported, ranging from simple spreadsheet mistakes and data entry failures to errors in applying Australian Accounting Standards, could lead to the state including Australian business accounting software as part of their agenda.
This recent Auditor-General report is said to have reiterated the findings made by the chief executive for the NSW Commission of Audit, Dr. Kerry Schott, released last February 22, stating that the culpability of the deterioration in the government's finances and the harm in the state's overall economic performance lies on the poor performance across the board.
Released last February 29, the Auditor-General's report to the NSW Parliament is said to have highlighted the way government agencies had continuously submitted financial reports for audit with numerous errors and incorrect accounting methods.
These errors were attributed to the state’s public service department’s insufficient number of suitably-qualified finance personnel, which had limited the agency’s ability to establish and maintain robust internal control environments, as well as correctly interpret accounting standards and efficiently generate high quality financial statements.
Mr. Achterstraat had identified around 1,256 mistakes in the previous year’s state's financial records.
Out of the 1256 misstatements, the Auditor-General said that 540 of these mistakes are needed to be corrected by the agencies before the Auditor-General could issue his audit opinions. Additionally, the agencies' 30 June 2011 financial statements also contained 25 individual errors, each of which exceeds $20 million.
Mr. Achterstraat also revealed the existence of deficiencies in information security across numerous agencies. Moreover, he also said that the computer system disaster recovery plans for financial systems do not exist or are outdated and that agencies are finding it difficult to follow their own policies and procedures.
The NSW public service is also finding it difficult to manage its $200 billion building and infrastructure portfolio.
Subsequently, several recommendations for the improvement of standards were recommended by Auditor-General Peter Achterstraat in his report.
Mr. Achterstraat had made 76 recommendations to agencies. These recommendations does not carry the necessary checks in place as to effectively control and manage their assets, including acquisitions, disposals, recording, depreciation, regulations and stock takes.
There are also other organizations who have recently revealed accounting problems. This includes Coventry City FC, which was placed under a transfer embargo after its failure to submit its financial results by the February 29th deadline.
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