Wanted: City officials with accounting skills

Mustaqim Adamrah ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Tue, 07/22/2008 10:14 AM  |  City

The Jakarta administration will assign officials with accounting experience to each of its 52 agencies and bureaus to ensure financial reports that comply with central government accounting standards.

Assistant to the city secretary for financial affairs, Sukri Bey, said Monday the plan was aimed at preventing disclaimers put on future budget reports by the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK).

"We need at least one civil servant accountant in each of 52 (vital) working units, out of a total of 722 units at all levels, to help fix the city financial management system, as stipulated in the government regulations," Sukri said at City Hall.

"The 52 working units will formulate their own balances and the administration's financial report will comprise the balances compiled from them."

The central government outlined accounting standards for budget plans and reports in a 2005 government regulation.

The regulation did not specify that officials with accounting experience were required for local government units.

Sukri said this was the first time the administration has attempted to such a plan.

He said the administration is still identifying officials with accounting, having so far only found 17 civil servants who fit the profile.

He said the administration would hire a consultant from the central government to train the officials on the 2005 regulation on budgets.

"Hopefully, there will be an improvement by the end of this year, with no disclaimer on the 2008 budget report," he said.

The administration began taking action to improve its financial reports after the audit agency placed a disclaimer on the city's 2007 budget.

It issued the disclaimer after discovering 169 irregularities involving a total of more than Rp 5.6 trillion (US$614.81 million) in the budget.

BPK Jakarta head I Gde Kastawa said earlier his team found the irregularities while trying to confirm accounts with relevant working units at the administration.

"For example, we were unable to confirm a number of working units' fixed assets," he said. "We did not know what the assets looked like nor did we know of their whereabouts."

He said the BPK would further investigate the irregularities to determine whether corruption charges could be warranted.

Kastawa said the findings encompassed Rp 17.27 billion in potential losses in city revenue and Rp 5.59 trillion from administrative errors.

Discrepancies were found at a number of agencies, including the financial bureau, the revenue agency, the parks agency, the housing agency, the public works agency, the mining agency, the transportation agency, the basic education agency and busway operator TransJakarta.

Deputy Governor Prijanto said earlier there were no indications of corruption, blaming the discrepancies on administrative problems.

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