The Commissioner of Audit Ho Veng On left on 6 October for the General Assembly of the Organization of the Supreme Audit Institutions of the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (OISC/CPLP, according to the Portuguese abbreviation) which will take place in S.Tomé e Príncipe. Before departure, the Commissioner delivered two audit reports concluded earlier to the Chief of Executive: “Audit Report on the General Accounts 2009” and “Social Benefits and Management of Official Trips of the Personnel of TDM - Television of Macau, S.A.”.Ho Veng On, accompanied by two of his advisers, takes part in the 6th General Assembly of the OISC/CPLP at the invitation of the same organization. The Commission of Audit of Macau (CA) holds the status of observer at OISC/CPLP and has been taking part in every of its biennial general assemblies, in order to maintain and strengthen the relation with the organization and to keep it informed on the audit activity in Macau.According to its plan of activities, CA concluded at the end of last month the “Audit Report on the General Accounts 2009” e submitted it to the Chief of Executive. This year CA has intensified communication with the public departments and institutions and they reacted supportively, having delivered the accounts information timely. Consequently, CA could prepare and finish the report according to the timetable laid down in law. The report will be presented in a plenary session of the Legislative Assembly according to the set up procedure.CA has also finished the performance audit “Social Benefits and Management of Official Trips of the Personnel of TDM - Television of Macau, S.A.”. The report disclosed various problems with the existing benefits, namely the scope and conditions of the medical care accorded to TDM’s chief executive officer are not clearly defined. CA is of the opinion that TDM should not assume liabilities without limits and control. The report also disclosed other situations: the barter trade practiced by TDM is damaging the equality and impartiality on which its procurement procedures are based and may also hurt its cash income; there are no uniformed procedures for the acquisition of plane tickets and hotel services; entertainment expenses are not subject to control of any kind.CA made the following suggestions to TDM: make the terms and conditions of the “Terms of Engagement” related to the CEO more detailed and precise, in order to improve the control and to plan the medical expenses globally; separate clearly and rigorously the official trips from the private ones; lay down rigorous rules and supervision mechanism for entertainment expenses in order to avoid abuses; the General Assembly and the Board of Directors of TDM should prudently look into the barter trade during which the impact on the cash income and the values and benefits of the bartered goods and services must be considered; some fringe benefits (e.g. moon cakes and red packets) should be distributed with prudence.In its reply to CA’s report TDM said it agrees in general with the opinions and suggestions presented and would monitor the situations disclosed; made a clarification on the private trips occurred immediately before or after the official trips; and, referred that the barter agreements constitute a general practice among mass media organizations.Copies of the performance audit report “Benefits and Management of Official Trips of the Personnel of TDM - Television of Macau, S.A.” are available at the office of the Commission of Audit during office hours or downloaded from this site.

The Commissioner of Audit Ho Veng On reported today (25) before the Legislative Assembly on the 2008 general accounts of the Macau Special Administrative Region Government. The Commissioner confirmed that the financial statements of the General Accounts conformed to the public accounting system and presented in all relevant aspects the result of the budget execution and the financial position as at 31 December 2008, based on the settlements concluded up to the same day.

Based on a performance audit conducted recently, the Commission of Audit (CA) found that the Education and Youth Affairs Bureau (DSEJ, according to the Portuguese abbreviation) didn’t prepare overall budgets for project works in relation to construction, relocating and renovating its educational and youth activity centres and, at the same time, engaged in the procurements of luxurious building materials, furniture and equipment for the centres. CA must underline that public departments should act with prudence when handling public money and should always strive for a balance between economy and social needs and avoiding unnecessary “show-off works”.

The Commission of Audit (CA) has released the performance audit report “Relocation and interior works of the Environment Council”, in which it pointed out the Environment Council (EC) was too hasty in the relocation of its premises, in 2005. Without knowing when it would be restructured into the meanwhile established Environmental Protection Bureau, without any significative changing to its duties and with the same number of staff, around 24, EC hurriedly relocated from a free space of around 7 000 sqf. to an area over 26 000 sqf., rent paying and with an area increment of almost three times. For this space, the EC had subsequently paid a total of 9,8 million patacas of rent and condominium expenses for the 4 years from 2005 to 2008.

The Commission of Audit (CA) has finished the performance audit report “Operation and Management of the Commission for Motor Vehicles Evaluation” in which it revealed the Commission for Motor Vehicles Evaluation (CAVM in the Portuguese abbreviation) of the Financial Services Bureau has been meeting excessively and unreasonably. The remunerations paid to members of the Commission to take part in the meetings held from 2006 to 2008 totaled over four million patacas. Had CAVM managed the meetings in the lines recommended by CA, legally and reasonably, the result would be a saving of 80% of the expenses effectively incurred, i.e. a saving over three million patacas of public money.

The Commission of Audit has concluded the “Audit Report on the General Account 2007”. In the consolidated financial statements of 2007 prepared by the Finance Services Bureau, material errors involving very high sums were detected and, consequently, the Commission of Audit, in accordance with auditing standards internationally accepted expresses a “qualified opinion”.

The Public Security Forces Affairs Bureau of Macao (hereafter referred to as DSFSM according to the Portuguese abbreviation) had no integrated planning for its large procurements, which was detrimental to the effectiveness and efficiency during execution. In the earlier concluded performance audit report “Procurement of Goods and Services by the Public Security Forces Affairs Bureau”, the Commission of Audit disclosed problems found in the procurements referred above. The Commission of Audit believes that without a preliminary planning of the resources to be invested would allow never ending of public money spending on corrective studies on the already acquired project, which is contrary to the principle of prudence in financial management.

The Commission of Audit concluded the Performance Audit report “Government departments” publications management” where it presents the findings and opinions and suggestions resulting from the audit it conducted on the publications with higher risk launched by Cultural Institute (named hereafter as IC according to Portuguese abbreviation) and by Municipal Affairs Institute (named hereafter as IACM according to Portuguese abbreviation), which comprises books, programmes, posters, congratulations cards, envelopes for lai si, table calendars (and others types), as well as different materials for promotional events. Globally, the Commission of Audit verified that the public departments don’t dedicate much attention to the publishing planning, resulting in a too high number of copies or in too luxurious books. The Commission of Audit suggests the public services should justify the number of copies and the publications specifications with its real and concrete needs and with the cost-benefits, seeking this way not to waste resources.During the audit, the Commission of Audit verified that IC had no written instructions regulating its editorial activity, while those of the IACM should be completed and enforced. In the period from 2000 to 2006, IC and IACM, together, held more than 130 thousands copies in stock, which represented over 5 millions patacas of costs. They also ordered excessive quantities of congratulations cards, envelopes for lai si, fai chun, table calendars and of other types, courtesy objects and material for promotions, without observing pre-defined specifications. Within the period of 2004 and 2006 alone, IC and IACM spent over 1.3 million patacas on this type of works.The audit found out both departments were lax in abiding with the legal provisions which established the compulsory of the Government Printing House in any price quotation; they didn’t possessed effective control measures for works not sold nor for the good storage of the copies in stock, which raised the risk of their degradation; they also didn’t have a periodic assessment, with registry of the decisions reached, on the published titles, which weakens the efficacy of the government publications.As for the publications supported by public money, the Commission of Audit suggests the public departments should “economize where it should be”; they should plan globally and adequately, apply a rigorous control and avoid pursuing the luxury, which only squanders the public coffer. The Commission of Audit also recommends a generalized usage of the electronic greeting cards, which contributes to the preservation of the environment and avoids wasting resources.The performance audit report “Government departments’ publications management”, already presented to the Chief of Executive and copy to the Legislative Assembly.

The Commission of Audit has just released the special audit report “Funds management by the Second Asian Indoor Games Organizing Committee Co. Ltd.” and expects the audit findings could serve as reference for the Macao Government in the setup of project-companies in the future as well as a stimulus for the establishing of effective measures for funds managing.

The Performance Audit reports “Operation and Management of Macao 4^th East Asian Games Organizing Committee, Limited (I)” and “Operation and Management of Macao 4^th East Asian Games Organizing Committee, Limited (II)” that the Commission of Audit had presented to the Chief Executive, and delivered later on to the Legislative Assembly, are now officially released.