Report of the External Auditor

Report of the External Auditor

191 2006-2007 External Auditor's Report The National Audit Office (NAO), headed by the Comptroller and Audit of the Financial Statements Auditor General of the United Kingdom, provides an external of the Institute of Nutrition of audit service to the Institute of Nutrition of Central America and Central America and Panama Panama (INCAP). The External (INCAP) Auditor has been appointed by the Directing Council of INCAP in accordance with Regulation XIV of the Financial Regulations. In Contents Paragraph addition to certifying the accounts of INCAP, he has authority under the mandate to EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1-16 report to the Directing Council on the economy, efficiency and effectiveness with which the Institute has used its resources. DETAILED FINDINGS: Financial results 17-30 The aim of the audit is to provide INCAP's separation from PAHO 31-35 independent assurance to the Directing Council; to add value to Trust fund projects 36-55 the Institute’s financial management and governance; and to support the objectives of Follow up to 2004-2005 audit the Institute’s work. recommendations 56-62 Acknowledgement 63 For further information please contact: Scope and approach of the audit Annex A Graham Miller Director , National Audit Office 157-197 Buckingham Palace Road, London, SW1W 9SP 020 7798 7136 Email: [email protected] or [email protected] April 2008 Reference: D16071 192 External Auditor's Report April 2008 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ¾ An unqualified audit opinion on INCAP’s financial statements ¾ Commentary on the financial results and internal controls for 2006-2007 ¾ Identification of the risks arising from the potential separation of INCAP and PAHO ¾ Review of extra-budgetary trust fund projects and related programme support costs ¾ Follow up to previous audit recommendations OVERALL RESULTS OF THE AUDIT 1. We have audited the financial statements of the Institute of Nutrition of Central America and Panama (INCAP) in accordance with the financial regulations and in conformity with International Standards on Auditing. The audit examination revealed no weaknesses or errors which we considered to be material to the accuracy, completeness and the validity of the Institute’s financial statements. In my opinion, these financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position as at 31 December 2007 and the results of operations and cash flows for the period then ended, in accordance with United Nations System Accounting Standards and INCAP’s stated accounting policies. 2. The main observations and recommendations from our audit are summarised below, with a more detailed commentary in the section on Detailed Findings. The scope and approach of the audit, which were communicated to management in a detailed audit strategy, is summarised at Annex A. On the overall financial results of INCAP 3. During the financial period the Institute received $1.42 million regular budget income, and incurred related expenditure of $1.46 million. After providing for delays in the collection of assessed contributions, and adjusting for contributions received in relation to prior years, the financial statements record a net excess of income over expenditure of $3,406. This amount 193 External Auditor's Report April 2008 has been transferred to the Endowment Fund in line with INCAP regulations. 4. Regular budget funding included $857,400 quota income from assessed contributions. This increased by $50,000 from the previous biennium, since 2006-2007 reflected the first full biennium of membership for the Dominican Republic. We commend the Institute on maintaining a high collection rate for quota income: the proportion of quota income collected has continued to improve over the last decade, reaching 94 per cent in 2006-2007. 5. The value of trust fund income to INCAP increased by 183 percent from $1.82 million in 2004- 2005 to $5.2 million in 2006-2007. This is largely attributable to the Presanca project which alone generated $1.43 million (28 percent) of all trust fund income. We have commented on this project in more detail further below. Internal financial controls 6. As part of our audit, we routinely test the effectiveness of internal financial controls. Our review of the relevant systems and procedures for audit purposes found these to be working effectively and that the Institute had maintained an effective level of internal financial control during the biennium. Financial accounting systems 7. From our audit of the records produced by the financial accounting system and other supporting evidence, we concluded that in all material respects proper books of account had been maintained and that these were sufficient to support the biennial financial statements and audit opinion. Write offs, other losses and frauds 8. INCAP reported no write offs during 2006-2007 and none were noted during our audit. During the biennium INCAP suffered three incidences of thefts of Institute property. Successful insurance claims were made in two cases but a stolen vehicle had not been insured for theft as PAHO and INCAP have a policy of ensuring for third party damage only. The estimated value of the vehicle was $5,141. 194 External Auditor's Report April 2008 On INCAP’s separation from PAHO 9. During the 2008-2009 biennium PAHO and INCAP plan to separate their administrative and governance structures. The transition is designed to give INCAP greater operational independence, which will also bring responsibility for its own system of internal control. 10. This transition brings with it numerous risks for both INCAP and PAHO. Issues which are particularly significant from an audit perspective include the future financial security of INCAP, the control of INCAP’s staff provident fund, the appointment of a new Director and the future operating and governance arrangements for the Institute. These issues will have a significant impact on the control environment of INCAP and we have recommended that these aspects need to be adequately resolved before the transition is formalised. On trust fund projects 11. As well as performing standard testing on trust fund income and expenditure, the audit team spent some time reviewing in more detail a sample of three trust fund projects from the 2006- 2007 biennium. We confirmed that expenditure had been in line with the expected profiles of the projects and that evidence of delivery was available. 12. During this review we noted that project management arrangements and reports did not incorporate financial targets or other key performance indicators to measure the relative success of each project. For example, in each of the projects designed to help communities to establish food or agricultural micro enterprises, INCAP in consultation with the donors could set targets for the number of such enterprises established, the amount of revenue generated through the sale of produce from such enterprises and performance measures on improved nutrition in each community. We have recommended that in consultation with trust fund donors INCAP should consider developing more objective key performance indicators to measure the achievement of projects, which can be used in addition to the subjective measures relied on at present. 195 External Auditor's Report April 2008 13. We observed that only 10 of the 41 trust funds (or 26 percent) against which INCAP expenditure had been charged included an allowance for project support costs. This compares to a larger proportion of 13 of 28 trust funds (46 percent) in 2004-2005. Consequently income to the Project Support Costs Fund decreased by $52,000 or 47 percent and INCAP regular budget income has effectively subsidised some projects by covering the majority of the Institute’s administrative costs. There is a risk that if regular budget income were to fall, INCAP would struggle to fully cover its administrative overheads. We have recommend that INCAP seek to include project support costs in project agreements where possible; and ensure that the overheads of the organisation are fully recovered, unless explicit decisions are taken to subsidise the activities from the regular budget. 14. Through this review process, we noted that many of INCAP’s projects rely on partnerships with PAHO country offices. We have recommended that INCAP and PAHO review how this coordination will be retained or replaced when INCAP becomes independent from PAHO. Follow up to previous audit recommendations 15. In our 2004-2005 report we recommended that that INCAP work closely with PAHO to prepare a detailed strategy for a move to International Public Sector Accounting Standards, IPSAS. This is a gradual change process. In this present report we have provided details of some key areas which will be affected by the transfer to IPSAS; and have recommended that INCAP formulate a detailed plan for achieving compliance with the standards, and act promptly to ensure that they have the mechanisms for collecting and reporting the required accounting information. 16. In 2004-2005, we reported that INCAP had been dependent on a small number of key donors for trust fund income for the biennia 2002-2003 and 2004-2005. These donors accounted for 77 per cent of trust fund income in 2004-2005. For 2006-2007, INCAP increased the number of donors from 12 to 18. However, while the number of donors has increased significantly, there is a greater concentration in donor income from the Central America Integration System (SICA), which accounted for 78 per cent of all voluntary contributions in the biennium. We have recommended that INCAP continue to regularly review the profile of voluntary contributions donors and actively manage the risk of reliance on key donors. 196 External Auditor's Report April 2008 DETAILED FINDINGS FINANCIAL RESULTS - THE INCAP REGULAR BUDGET 17. Statement XI reports that during the financial period the Institute received $1.42 million in regular budget income and incurred related expenditure of $1.46 million. After providing for delays in the collection of assessed contributions, and adjusting for contributions received in relation to prior years, the financial statements record a net excess of income over expenditure of $3,406.

View Full Text

Details

  • File Type
    pdf
  • Upload Time
    -
  • Content Languages
    English
  • Upload User
    Anonymous/Not logged-in
  • File Pages
    24 Page
  • File Size
    -

Download

Channel Download Status
Express Download Enable

Copyright

We respect the copyrights and intellectual property rights of all users. All uploaded documents are either original works of the uploader or authorized works of the rightful owners.

  • Not to be reproduced or distributed without explicit permission.
  • Not used for commercial purposes outside of approved use cases.
  • Not used to infringe on the rights of the original creators.
  • If you believe any content infringes your copyright, please contact us immediately.

Support

For help with questions, suggestions, or problems, please contact us