PHILIPSBURG:— The General Audit Chamber submitted its report entitled “Mini audit: the settlement of bounced cheques” to Parliament today. The report presents findings, analysis, and conclusions of the performance audit related to the processing of so-called ‘bounced’ cheques by the government. Bounced cheques are payments via cheques that are subsequently rejected by the bank.
With this Mini audit, the Audit Chamber set out to determine how many “bounced cheques” exist in practice, what procedure government uses for reversing the payment, as well as the options available to mitigate the problem of bounced cheques in the future.
Online payment via the bank is the most likely solution, making a trip to the Receiver’s Office to pay with cash or a cheque unnecessary. It is then the responsibility of the government to process each payment quickly and efficiently and to promptly issue a receipt.
Online payments are also beneficial for government; requiring fewer resources to handle and process cash and cheques, as well as eliminating the labor-intensive activity of processing rejected cheques.
The report is published in both English and Dutch and is available on the website of the General Audit Chamber (www.arsxm.org) and via links on their social media platforms Facebook and Linked In.
