Public entities develop on different speeds

Publication 1st semi-annual report 2015 Board of financial supervision BES.

The public entities have had great difficulties in the first half of 2015 to timely fulfill their report responsibilities. Only Bonaire has managed to timely submit its financial statements 2014 as adopted by the island council. Bonaire and Saba have concluded 2014 with a positive result. Particularly on Saba visible improvements were made in the area of financial management. On Bonaire the executive council and the Cft are paying great attention to the financial management. Sint Eustatius has been subjected to increased administrative supervision by the Minister of the Interior Affairs and Kingdom Relations (BZK). Saba is the first public entity to obtain a positive auditor’s report, while Sint Eustatius received an instruction.

Saba has submitted its first execution report on May 13th, 2015, which means that it did not meet the pertaining deadline of April 30th. The public entity has also requested a deferment of the submission date of its 2014 financial statements. Despite these limited overruns, Saba made impressive improvements in recent years, resulting what has become apparent now: that Saba is the first public entity to receive a positive auditor’s report for its 2014 financial statements.

The financial and administrative problems on Sint Eustatius were the reason for the Minister of BZK to place the public entity under increased administrative supervision and to bestow an instruction. An obligation stop has been established and a plan of action to improve financial management need to be produced. Together with the Kingdom Representative, the Cft and the public entity appointed a group of experts to deliver this plan of action. The Cft gave negative advice on the first budget modification of Sint Eustatius, since the accumulated deficit over 2015 has not been covered. Sint Eustatius requested a deferment of the submission date of its financial statements; the Minister of BZK stipulated August 24 as the new deadline. On September 1st a balanced budget modification must be submitted, in which coverage is provided for the 2014 deficit and the anticipated deficit of 2015.

Bonaire submitted timely its 2014 financial statements, as adopted by the island council. However, this happened at the expense of the timely adherence to other report obligations. Due to the lack of an updated view, implementation reports and budget modification could not sufficiently be used by governors as a management tool. In addition, the liquidity position of Bonaire as well as its financial management are important issues for the Cft; reason why these will also be closely monitored by the Cft.

Source: Smn-news.