Page 21.
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his control. The matter is still under investigation by this Depart- ment in connection with the authorities under which these Funds are constituted and for the receipts and payments to be excluded from the accounts of the Accountant General.
The Acting.
98. Grant Schools Provident Fund - $137,303.22. Accountant General has advised that this Fund is not yet constituted under statutory authority but that regulations are at present in draft. The Fund stands underinvested by $38,623.75 at the 31st of March, 1947, after allowance for the adjustment of the sterling investments to market value at that date. The Acting Accountant General stated that the balance of the Fund at the 31st March, 1947, was reconciled with the records kept by the Education Department.
99. Waterworks Renewals Fund - $391,898.00. Information is awaited regarding the authority for this Fund and the arrangements under which it is administered. The balance at the 31st of March, 1947, represents the contribution for which provision was made in the Estimates for 1946/47 under Expenditure Head 24, Subhead 11, Miscellaneous - Waterworks, item 2 "Contribution to Renovals and Improvement Fund". No expenditure has been charged against the Fund in this financial period. The contribution, which was not credited to the Fund until March, 1947, has not been invested.
100.
GENERAL REVENUE BALANCE ACCOUNT
-
$487.434.89.
This account is described in the Statement of Assets and Liabilitics at 31st of March, 1947, as "General Revenue Account".
101.
The balance on 1st May, 1946, shown in the Statement of Assets and Liabilities reflects both the Hong Kong dollar equivalent of the excess of Assets over Liabilities as shown in the Hong Kong London Accounts Office Balance Sheet at the 30th April, 1946 (£412,896.0.3.) amounting to $6,606,336.20 and the excess of Liabilities over Assets taken over from the British Military Administration, Hong Kong, at 1st May, 1946, i.e. $2,636,066.57. The balance does not include the amount
of $2,000 by which the Liabilities exceed the Assets, as shown in the 1941 Statement of Assets and Liabilities (prepared by the Accountant General and published as Appendix 7 to the Financial Report for 1946/47) as brought into the accounts for 1946/47. This amount of $2,000, through charged against the General Revenue Balance Account in the Accountant General's accounts, is incorrectly included both in the figure of $3,482,834.74 shown in the Statement of Assets and Liabilities as "Deficit during 1946/47" and in the figure of $85,624,390.78, shown under General Revenue Balance as "Expenditure 1946/47", in the Statement of Balances (excluding Special Funds, etc.) forming Appendix 3 of the Financial Report.
102. As stated in paragraph 77 of this report, the sum of $12,000,000 received from His Majesty's Government during 1946/47 as a grant-in-aid was not brought to account as revenue for 1946/47, and the sum of $5,158,000 referred to in paragraphs 136 and 137 of this report, has been improperly brought to account as expenditure for 1946/47, and the total of these amounts ($17,158,000), together with the misallocation of $2,000 referred to in the preceding paragraph, affect the amount shown as "Deficit during 194.6/4.7" of $3,482,834.74 in the Statement of Assets and Liabilities at the 31st of March, 1947, which should more correctly be shown as a Surplus of $13,677,165.26 (i.e. $12,000,000 plus $5,158,000 plus $2,000 minus $3,482,834.74).
It follows that
the balance of the General Revenue Balance Account at the 31st of March, 1947, is understated by the sum of $17,158,000, and should more correctly stand at $17,645,434.89 i.c. 3,970,269.63 minus $2,000 plus $13,677,165.26).