SINT MAARTEN (PHILIPSBURG) – The General Audit Chamber presented its audit report entitled Compliance Audit: Financial Statements of St. Maarten 2017 to Parliament today.
The General Audit Chamber is required by law to examine whether Government was legally compliant and effective in its spending of St. Maarten’s public funds.
The 2017 financial statements should have been drafted on September 1st, 2018. Instead, the General Audit Chamber and the SOAB received the financial statements from Government on October 30th, 2020. The SOAB must first review and issue a report after which the legal timeline for the Audit Chamber to report starts. That timeline started on June 11th, 2021, when the SOAB presented its report and opinion to the Audit Chamber.
The 2017 Financial Statements contain numerous errors and uncertainties. This situation contributed to our opinion that the 2017 Financial Statements do not provide a true representation of the Government’s financial position as of December 31st, 2017, nor of the level of income and expenses for that year. A surplus of ANG 20.0 million had been initially projected. The lower result of ANG 181.2 million is largely due to the effect of Hurricane Irma that impacted the island in September 2017.
The report is published in both English and Dutch and is available on the website of the General Audit Chamber (www.arsxm.org).
