Salta: An Organism That Has "Conceptual Inconsistencies" Defines the Definition of "Debt"
<p style="text-align:justify">That was one of the conclusions of the General Audit of Salta after analyzing the work of the Provincial Institute of Health. It was detected that in 2005 there was a "difference" of $53 million between the debt report and the balance of amounts and balances presented by the entity. In addition, the IPS database registers "in inadmissible degrees".</p>
The Provincial Health Institute of Salta (IPS, for its acronym in Spanish) has "conceptual inconsistencies" to define what it means by the term "debt." The General Audit of the province arrived at this conclusion after detecting "differences" between the values that appeared in documents related to the accounts of the entity corresponding to the fiscal year 2005.
According to the control body, the IPS submitted a debt report registered until December 31 of that year constituted "basically by a list of unpaid vouchers" totaling $ 25,113,995.91. But another document, the balance of sums and balances - elaborated until the same date -, shows a somewhat higher figure: $ 78,154,815.37. "At the request of this audit - the report says, the IPS could not reconcile this difference", which amounts to $ 53,040,819.46.
"The debt report is incomplete (because) it does not include all the items that are part of the liability according to the balance of amounts and balances as at 12/31/05, only those corresponding to debts with suppliers and providers", notes the And adds that "this situation reveals the conceptual inconsistencies with respect to the meaning of the expression 'debt' by the IPS." In fact, analyzing the amounts owed by the Institute through these documents - debt report and balance of sums and balances - was a "restriction that limited the control task"; Is that the entity did not present the financial statements, nor the details of classified debt in demandable and non-demandable, and did not close the records of the transactions corresponding to fiscal year 2005 "because the computer system does not provide such information."
On the other hand, the mechanism with which the Provincial Health Institute of Salta handles the information it generates, presents deficiencies "in inadmissible degrees". It is the GIE, Comprehensive Management of Enterprises and, for Audit, this database is "incomplete, incongruous and inconsistent". The inspection body stated that if the IPS made such an "important investment" in the GIE, the system "should have a product of high reliability, perfectly integrated among its different modules and that allows the delivery of accurate data and Reliable ". But, after analyzing a sample of files, the auditors concluded that "none of this happens in reality."
However, the Watchdog also noted other shortcomings regarding GIE users: "Beyond the detected vulnerabilities, this would not be evident if the personnel in charge of the operation did not make an incorrect and irresponsible use of the system. Regarding the missing data, and regardless of the cause (technical failures or intentional deletion of the information), the people in charge of the operation and control had to put in place mechanisms to correct these errors because, in short, the Owners and / or managers of the database are these people. “The report also claims that there was a "manipulation of the sequence of dates" of the GIE, which represents "undoubtedly a maneuver generated by the personnel operating the system, either because the system allows it or because they have access Direct or indirect to the databases ".
Based on these findings, the Audit of Salta recognized that "it cannot express an opinion on the economy, efficiency and effectiveness of the management of the Provincial Health Institute in general and, in particular, in relation to the debt reported as of December 31st 2005."
