Faulty account statement may spell trouble for corporation

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The city corporation might face serious trouble as the local fund audit has decided to revert the account statement filed by the corporation for 2011-12, citing grave errors. In the statement, the corporation has repeatedly pointed out that the balance of sundry creditors, debtors, loans and advances are subject to confirmation.
“This is completely unacceptable for an account statement.It shows that the figures lack clarity and interestingly, the officials admit it in the statement. Any report prepared on the basis of these figures will be as faulty as the account statement. Hence, the audit department will revert the statement back to the corporation,” said a local fund audit official.
TOI had earlier reported how the civic body had failed in filing the account statement promptly in compliance with Kerala Municipality Act. An official said that the corporation ruling council seemed to have filed the statement in a haste dreading the consequences and this eventually ended in further trouble. Meanwhile, it has also come to light that the account statement has been produced without the knowledge of either the finance committee or the corporation council. P Ashok Kumar, a member of finance committee, revealed that the finance committee was completely unaware of such a statement. As per the procedure, the finance committee will have to prepare the statement for each month and then file the annual statement which will be further approved by the ruling council.
“As a member of the committee, I have no idea about this statement filed by corporation. The committee hasn’t approved any account statements for the last nine months,” said Kumar. In the latest account statement accessed by TOI, the corporation also points out that due to software problem, bank reconciliation is incomplete and so the bank balances are subject to confirmation.
“Such a kind of an explanation is absurd when it comes to submitting the account statement. The corporation is making a serious violation of the Municipality Act by including such strange explanations in the account statement,” the audit official said.
The opposition is also ignorant about the account statement. “Usually, account statements are very important and it has to be approved by the council. How can the corporation file an account statement without the approval of the corporation council? The ruling council is answerable for this violation,” said UDF councillor Maheshwaran Nair.