The town recorded construction projects that are not yet finished as completed assets, inflating property balances and understating construction-in-progress. This also understated the amount the municipality actually owes for completed work.

Why It Matters

Recommended Actions

• Require the IC and the GSO, in coordination with the MEO, to: (i) conduct a complete inventory of all PPE items, including land, public infrastructure assets, and buildings
• And (ii) update the PCs to include complete acquisition details and descriptions of PPE items
• (ii) institutionalize periodic reconciliation of property records and the results of physical inventory of PPE with the MAO’s PPE records
• (b) direct the MA to: (i) prepare adjusting entries to correct the accounting errors that resulted in the understatement of the CIP account and overstatement of the corresponding PPE accounts and AP account
• (ii) ensure that all infrastructure costs are initially recognized under the CIP account and transferred to PPE only upon project completion and acceptance
• (iii) strengthen coordination with the MEO to secure timely and accurate status reports, including percentage of completion and actual cost incurred as of year-end
• (c) create a Special Committee to: (i) gather all available ownership documents to facilitate titling of parcels of land purportedly owned by the Municipality and allocate the necessary budget for titling expenses
• And (ii) request appraisal services from the Bureau of Internal Revenue or accredited appraisers to determine the fair value of donated properties to facilitate recognition of their proper recognition of these in the books of accounts.

Original Audit Finding Excerpt

"understatement of the Construction-in-Progress (CIP) account by ₱192,516,113.46 and overstatement of the corresponding PPE accounts by ₱173,655,291.07, due to erroneous recognition of ongoing infrastructure project costs under PPE accounts instead of CIP, and other deficiencies"

Source Document