COA: Local Government Academy has P72.84M in unliquidated fund transfers

The Commission on Audit (COA) has flagged the Local Government Academy (LGA), the human resource development and training arm of the Interior Department, over P72.84 million in unliquidated fund transfers as of the end of 2020.

In a report, COA said 64% of this amount had been outstanding from one to over three years, “casting doubt as to whether or not the Academy’s resources are being used effectively and the projects’ objective towards the delivery of the desired outputs are efficiently implemented.”

State auditors attributed the LGA’s accumulation of unliquidated fund transfers to:

The continuous release of fund transfers despite outstanding balances and without certification by the accountant

The period of implementation of the projects funded by the transfer not being specified in the memorandum of agreement between the LGA and implementing agencies (IAs)

The “circuitous” manner of releasing and liquidating funds

In response, the LGA said it has been continuously sending letters to IAs to demand them to liquidate.

The LGA added that it is implementing internal control measures to prevent the granting of additional fund transfers to IAs with a low liquidation rate.

COA said the LGA should also consider seeking assistance from the central office of the Department of the Interior and Local Government to oblige regional directors to fully liquidate the accumulated fund transfers from previous years. —NB, GMA News