The General Audit Chamber organized and hosted a specialized course on “the audit of subsidies” on Monday and Tuesday July 21 and 22.
Participants included financial controllers of the various ministries as well as financial policy workers from the Financial Accounting Department of the Ministry of Finance (responsible for among others the production of the Financial Statements). Staff members from the ministries of VROMi, Economic Affairs, Education, Justice and Health & Labor participated in the two day course that was held at the offices of the General Audit Chamber in Philipsburg.
The General Audit Chamber has a legal task to review the effectiveness and compliance of the finances of government. As part of this duty, the financial statements of Government are subject to annual review. Subsidies represent a substantial part of the annual expenditure of government. With this course the General Audit Chamber sought to provide additional insight in the process of subsidies as well as to offer practical guidelines for the review and audit of subsidies.
During the two day course, participants reviewed the General Subsidy Ordinance of Sint Maarten. Approach to the audit approach of subsidies as reported in the financial statements was handled. The use of subsidies as an instrument of policy was also discussed as well as the types of subsidy that can be granted by law. Besides the legislation, the course touched on the management of subsidies including the requirements to achieve an optimal effectiveness and efficiency in terms of granting of subsidies. Risk inherent to the subsidy process were discussed and suggestions for improvement of the process were debated among participants. During the last session, the course dealt with a comparative analysis of Sint Maarten’s legislation to that of Curaçao.
By means of providing such practical training sessions, the General Audit Chambers seeks to contribute to the improvement of the financial management of the Country. In addition, these sessions provide the ministries, important insight in terms of the issues that are relevant to the General Audit Chamber. This knowledge will hopefully improve the manner in which the ministries give account for their financial management.
The course was developed in conjunction with the SOAB Corporate Academy. SOAB has gained extensive knowledge of government and its operations and has collaborated on other training initiatives with the General Audit Chamber.