Public Accounts of Montserrat 2022-2023

3rd February, 2025

The Report of the Auditor General on the Audit of the Public Accounts of Montserrat 2022-2023 was presented to the Legislative Assembly on 21 January, 2025. 

Background

The Auditor General has the responsibility of auditing the Public Accounts of Montserrat and of all public offices and public bodies established by an Act of the Legislature and to provide a report on her findings to the Legislative Assembly as per Section 103 of the Montserrat Constitution Order 2010 and Section 42(1) of the Public Finance (Management and Accountability) Act 2008.   

Conclusions from the Audit of the 2022-23 Public Accounts

The Government of Montserrat (GOM) was issued with a qualified opinion on the 2022-2023 Public Accounts of Montserrat by the Office of the Auditor General.  This audit opinion was given as the Acting Auditor General, Miss Marsha Meade determined that the Fixed Asset Statement totaling in excess of $80M which was withdrawn after its submission and subsequent audit renders the Public Accounts materially misstated due to the Statement’s omission from the final accounts.  In addition, the OAG audited 95.5% of the Arrears of Revenue which stood at $40,585,167 and found that more than 52% of this amount was deemed uncollectible and the inclusion in the accounts provide an inaccurate picture of how much money can be collected by the GOM.

For the fiscal year 2022-2023, the GOM received a total of $147,897,087 of recurrent revenue, the total recurrent expenditure was $145,794,945 resulting in a surplus of $2,102,142.  Actual collection of local revenue amounted to $57, 304,734 an increased collection of $5.09M, when compared to the prior fiscal year 2021-2022.  Revised Capital Appropriations was $65,467,400 and actual Capital Projects Expenditure amounted to $35,033,923 being 54% usage of the authorized amount for the reporting year 2022-2023. 

Miss Meade reported that the Office of the Auditor General (O.A.G.) is nearing the completion of the audit of the 2023-2024 Public Accounts.  This significant progress is attributed to the successful implementation of key strategies, and the final report is expected to be released in the coming months.  Miss Meade highlighted that the dedicated efforts of the Auditors, played a crucial role in conducting various aspects of the audit assignments.  She thanked them for their contribution despite the ongoing challenges at the Audit Office.