MND's Response to AHTC's Media Release on 22 Oct 2016
Unresolved accounting weaknesses could weigh on confidence in estate governance and financial management, although the article establishes no direct effect on housing transactions or prices.
MND said AHTC’s unaudited FY2015/16 statements contained numerous errors, inconsistencies and guideline breaches, while audited statements remained outstanding as of its response.
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We refer to the media release by Aljunied-Hougang Town Council (AHTC) on 22 October 2016 and would like to provide some clarifications.
MND had initially rejected the auditors proposed by AHTC, after consultation with the Auditor-General’s Office (AGO). This was because the proposed engagement partner of the audit firm had failed the Practice Monitoring Programme (PMP) review conducted by the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA), and there were weaknesses in the TC’s accounting system as well as various accounting issues which had not been resolved.
AHTC subsequently appealed and assured MND and AGO that concerns about the weaknesses in the TC’s accounting system would be separately addressed through KPMG, which had been appointed by AHTC pursuant to the court order to identify and remediate weaknesses in AHTC’s accounting system. In view of the KPMG work, and on account that the PMP findings against the proposed auditor were not considered severe, MND and AGO allowed AHTC to proceed with this auditor.
While AHTC submitted its unaudited FY15/16 financial statements on time, MND found that it contained numerous errors, inconsistencies, and non-compliances with MND guidelines. These were flagged out to the TC for review with its auditor. To date, we have not received the audited statements or an indication of when they may be available. We hope that AHTC will work with its auditor expeditiously to finalise and submit its financial statements soon.