P.E.I. auditor general flags $60 million in funds owing from crown corporations, Ottawa

P.E.I.’s auditor normal has recognized a complete of $60 million in funds owing to the province from both crown companies or federal entities that remained excellent, as of March 31, 2021.

In a presentation earlier than the province’s standing committee on public accounts, Darren Noonan and different workers from the Auditor Common’s Workplace famous a number of cases of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} in funds that had been owing however had not been collected by the province. These had been famous within the auditor normal’s 2022 annual report to the legislature, launched in March.

This implies the provincial authorities has successfully left tens of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} uncollected at a time when the province’s money owed are rising and deficit budgets are anticipated for years to return.

The uncollected funds included about $20 million because of the province for numerous federal authorities applications. These funds had been excellent for greater than a yr as of March 31, 2021. The province had not, as of March 31, 2021, submitted claims for these federal receivables.

The most important overdue quantities associated to 3 federal applications: Youth Justice Companies ($6 million), Official Languages in Training ($7 million) and the Low Carbon Financial system Fund ($6 million).

“Eventualities that contain surplus funds not being utilized to earn earnings characterize misplaced earnings to the province.”

Darren Noonan

“Most of that funding is topic to offering an audit that are sometimes executed by an exterior auditor. However an exterior auditor cannot do the audit till the file is ready,” Noonan defined to members of the P.E.I. standing committee on public accounts on Could 24.

“It is only a lack of assets to place that info collectively in order that an auditor can are available in and audit it.”

An extra $24.9 million in surplus funds had remained within the checking account of the P.E.I. Lotteries Fee, whereas $16.4 million in surplus funds remained within the account of the P.E.I. Agricultural Insurance coverage Company. Bylaws for each crown companies require surplus funds to be both invested or transferred to the province.

“Eventualities that contain surplus funds not being utilized to earn earnings characterize misplaced earnings to the province,” Noonan advised the committee.

The auditor normal additionally famous $11.6 million in funding to the P.E.I. Housing Company had been withheld by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Company. The P.E.I. Housing Company couldn’t entry the funding as a result of it did not file yearly audited monetary experiences.

Noonan additionally clarified that the excellent income didn’t imply that much less funding was obtainable for presidency applications, because the funds budgeted for applications had been spent.

Nevertheless, the funds might in any other case have been used to pay down the province’s debt or might have been invested to generate extra income.

Noonan’s presentation to the committee targeted on the findings of an audit of the province’s consolidated monetary statements for the yr ending March 31, 2021. Total, the audit discovered the province’s public accounts in compliance with accounting requirements.

However the auditor normal’s report additionally recognized a number of areas in want of enhancements, together with the uncollected receivables and surplus funds.

The report additionally famous that 21 of 26 provincial reporting entities, together with crown companies, had not submitted an annual report for the 2020/2021 fiscal yr by the required reporting deadline. Fourteen had not printed annual experiences by Jan. 31, 2022 – 4 months after the deadline.

The report additionally famous the province had made $7.7 million in whole overpayments to social help recipients over a number of years, as of March 31, 2021.

In the course of the assembly, Inexperienced and Liberal MLAs raised a number of questions in regards to the uncollected income.

“We’ve got unprecedented ranges of debt. And this looks as if a pathway to entry extra cash that has no adverse impression on Islanders in any respect. And it is not being executed,” Inexperienced MLA Lynne Lund stated.

“Did the departments not discover that this was a pathway to gather some extra income?”

Talking earlier than the committee, Liberal interim chief Sonny Gallant stated he wish to see workers from the province’s Division of Finance converse earlier than the committee.

“I feel we want an evidence of that. Why would $24.9 million be sitting in an account drawing curiosity when Islanders are struggling proper now,” Gallant stated, referring to the excess P.E.I. Lotteries Fee funds.

“We have to know what’s taking place with this cash.”