Fifteen recommendations closed as of December 31, 2004
(June 30, 2005)
OPA released its semi-annual Audit Recommendations Tracking Report for the period ending December 31, 2004. Audit recommendations tracked in 2004 totaled 67. Of the 67 audit recomm endations,15 were closed and 52 remained either open or resolved. Of the 52 open or resolved recommendations, 30 were considered delinquent.
OPA’s follow-up on outstanding audit recommendations and the response letters received from various government agencies resulted in the closure of 15 audit recommendations and encouraged agency action on delinquent recommendations. OPA closed 15 or 22% of the 67 recommendations it tracked in 2004. The number of delinquent recommendations slightly decreased by 6% as of December 31, 2004.
An analysis of the 15 closed recommendations for the year 2004 showed that most were closed because agencies acted by implementing OPA recommendations, establishing policies and procedures, and by issuing memoranda and directives to reemphasize the need to com ply with existing laws and regulations. OPA also closed three recommendations due to jurisdictional, Statute of Limitations and other reasons and closed one recommendation due to full recovery of funds.
Recommendations issued by private CPA firms are also included in OPA’s audit recommendations tracking report. OPA is not responsible for tracking the implementation of these recommendations, however, they are included in the audit tracking report for information purposes. Based on the classification followed by private CPA firms, a recommendation is described as either resolved or unresolved. OPA has
included in the tracking report a total of 100 recommendations in 8 recent audit reports issued by private CPA firms under contract by OPA.
As of December 31, 2004, recommendations in 11 audit reports were referred to the Attorney General’s Office for legal action to recover monies improperly expended. According to OPA’s audit reports, approximately $2,678,712 is potentially recoverable. In addition to this, po tential recovery of another $3.2 million also hinges on agencies’ actions.
Recommendations in 11 audit reports identified potential recoveries due to unpaid rentals of land leases, overpayments in professional services contracts and retirem ent benefits and improper expenditure of pu blic funds. As of December 31, 2004, actions initiated by the Marianas Public Lands Authority, Depar tment of Finance, Washington Representative’s Office, and the Attorney General’s Investigative Unit resulted in a partial recovery of $1,005,043, balance recoverable of $1,315,102 re-directed to AGO [Report No. AR-99-04], and two claims totaling $11,268 also re-directed to AGO [Report Nos. AR-97-06 and LT-01-05] leaving a balance of $3,215,909 recoverable.
