Payogasta: The Audit Could Not Give an Opinion on Their Financial Situation Because Of a Lack of Documentation
<p><span style="line-height: 1.6em;">One of the main reasons why the control agency of Salta had to refrain from stating an opinion was because the quartermaster had no balance sheet for 2009. The auditors were unable to access detailed listings on subsidies and reported that the files of the people working are not complete and there is no process manual.</span></p> <div> </div>
According to the Auditor General of the Province of Salta "it was not possible to deliver an opinion on the financial situation" on the Payogasta municipality since they could not get access on fundamental documentation, for example, the balance sheets on the audited period.
While developing an investment account is a requirement of the Provincial Accounting Act, the Salta office "had not opened one" so the auditors were "unable" to do various tasks of control over the financial situation of 2009. They also could not access documentation showing how over 2.2 million pesos of the municipal budget were implemented that year since "the audited only presented data of the last two quarters."
The Audit also wanted to control the public aid plans managed from there, but the list provided, only consisted of "a list of grants to needy individuals and sports organizations run with funding from the municipality," which was not enough for the audit. It "lacked the payroll of the national and provincial aid plans they administer, like Heads of Household Plan and Grow Better Plan, as well as the spread sheets of each benefit plan."
The report, which was approved, in May of this year, states that "although the accounting and budgetary registrations are computerized, they are not performed by the municipality itself, they are carried out by an accounting firm located in the City of Salta".
Moreover, the regional governor has organized a plan of public works where "personnel will be needed for each job." The Salta auditors attempted to analyze the tasks of "repairing the deck of the0 Payogasta Church" and "building six homes," actions that are difficult because the town "did not provide them with the files that held the documentation for these endeavors."
It was also informed that "they do not have complete documentation of the staff" nor "implemented a registry where all goods are registered upon." They also don’t have a manual "describing the functions of the areas and their tasks and responsibilities to officers and employees" or "a registry of the resources they have."
Finally, the report notes that while the regional governor was absent from Payogasta carrying out official duties, he appointed on an interim basis the Secretary of Government as his replacement. However, the Auditor General of Salta indicated that according to Law 1348, who must exercise his functions provisionally are: first, the President of the City Council, secondly, the Vice President of that body and "just if they are absent, Municipal Clerks would be legally entitled to take his place."