THE University of Guyana (UG) council has terminated the contracts of Bursar John Seeram and Senior Accountant Hazel Bentinck following an independent special audit into the university’s accounts, facilitated by the University of the West Indies (UWI).

Speaking to the Guyana Chronicle yesterday, an anonymous source close to the university’s council revealed that this decision was made when the council met on Thursday, August 22, to discuss the findings of the report, among other matters relating to the institution.
According to the source, the dismissal of these two senior officials was done on the basis of a premature report, since phase three of this audit report is yet to be completed, and as such, this current report can be considered a draft.
The source explained that due process did not prevail in the decision-making process, since, when a report of this nature is issued it is required that the accountant make a written response to address claims before any important decision is made.
The source said that both Mr. Seeram and Ms. Bentinck had submitted written responses to the Vice  Chancellor, Professor Jacob Opadeyi, who failed to present those at the council’s meeting, which should have been done in conjunction with the presentation of the audit report.
This accordingly did not allow for full disclosure of information, the source said, since Professor Opadeyi had withheld those responses from the council.
Meanwhile, the audit of cash and bank, payroll and accounts receivable processes had allegedly identified key financial and information technology deficiencies.
The executive summary of the report identified improper segregation of duties and user access and improper reconciliation with regard to the payroll function.
Additionally, the report highlighted the need for more thorough and frequent account receivables reconciliations to ensure that the assets are properly recorded and collection and write-off processes are adequately managed.
The absence of proper and timely reconciliation of the university’s bank accounts, which are even more critical when adverse cash flows are being experienced, was also identified.
Also, a significant number of manual processes which impact on the level of accuracy and efficiency and operated without the evidence of sufficient checks and balances were highlighted.
According to the report, the bursarial functions are being supported by IT systems that do not function in accordance with best practices, such as the absence of unique passwords to access data, or the ability to make changes to prior period data.
“While no acts of malfeasance were identified, the significant number and the nature of the control weaknesses observed confirm that the bursary lacks control activities required to adequately protect the assets of the institution. The results dilute the level of integrity of the financial information being generated and presented to management,” the report stated.
This independent special audit was done to determine the state of the university’s finances, in an effort to ascertain the solution to the “huge deficit” faced by the academic institution.
Bursar John Seeram and Senior Accountant Hazel Bentinck had been sent on administrative leave in order to allow the special audit to be done objectively.
This audit was completed on June 21, 2013, and was issued on August 9, 2013.