The Municipality of Omaruru has been issued a disclaimer audit opinion for the 2019 financial year by Auditor-General, Junias Kandjeke, due to insufficient appropriate audit evidence provided.

The audit was done on financial statements comprised of the statement of financial position, statement of comprehensive income, cash flow statement, notes of the financial statements for the year then ended, and a summary of significant accounting policies.

“I do not express an opinion on the financial statements of the municipality, because I have not been able to obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence to provide a basis for an audit opinion,” Kandjeke noted.

According to the audit report compiled in June 2022, it was observed that bank reconciliations were not performed and properly maintained, which resulted in audit scope limitation on carrying out required audit procedures for cash and cash equivalent as at year end.

Additionally, the disclaimer was issued for the sale of erven during the financial year under review, as documentation and listing of such beneficiaries from the sales could not be provided for audit purposes, resulting in audit scope limitation on carrying out required audit procedures to ascertain the completeness of sales of erven.

“Certificates of shareholding and relevant documents supporting an investment of N.dollars 6 225 100 into Erongo RED could not be provided to ascertain the existence and accurate valuation of such an investment,” the report further said.

The fixed assets register was also found to be inadequate to ascertain the existence and valuation of the municipality’s property, plant and equipment as at year-end.

According to the report, the municipality did not present a Statement of Changes in Equity as required by International Accounting Standards (IAS) 1, which states that a complete set of financial statements includes a statement of financial position, comprehensive income, changes in equity, cash flows and notes comprising a summary of significant accounting policies, among others.

“The Omaruru Municipality did not prepare and present its cash flow statement in accordance with IAS 7 as an integral part of its financial statements. The standard requires and entity to reconcile its surplus or deficit from ordinary activities and non-cash items in accordance to IAS 7,” Kandjeke said.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency