Eighty payment vouchers totalling $47.320M for 2020 and 250 payment vouchers totalling $85M for the years 2017 to 2019 were not presented for audit verification by the then Ministry of the Presidency.
This is according to the Auditor General’s 2020 report, which noted that “as a result, the completeness, accuracy and validity of the transactions could not be determined” during the audit for the respective years.

However, in responding to the issue, the Ministry of the Presidency noted that most of the vouchers are for the agencies for which it has oversight responsibility, particularly the Department of Citizenship, and Department of Social Cohesion.

The Auditor General report noted that by September 2021, some of the missing vouchers were located.
“Thirty-two vouchers out of the 113 were located. The Department [of] Social Cohesion acknowledges that at the time of the audit, 155 vouchers were not presented; however, 114 vouchers have since been found for audit verification. The process is still ongoing to clear the remainder for 2017, 2018 and 2019,” the report said.

Under the Public Service Management (APNU+AFC period), there were five payment vouchers outstanding.
The Audit Office recommended that the Head of Budget Agency put systems in place to ensure that there is adequate accountability for payment vouchers and supporting documents, so that these could be provided for audit in a timely manner; and to ensure all unpresented payment vouchers are located and submitted for audit examination.