CO129-607-1 Enquiry into loss of public money 22-5-1948 - 26-10-1948 — Page 25

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(I)

(J)

Accountant General interprets as requiring that all duplicate safe

keys should be deposited in the Treasury.

We consider that a defalcation on so large a scale would not

have occurred if the department's accounts had been checked daily by a

responsible officer, and had payments been made daily into the bank

from the Head Office.

We think it would be very difficult and perhaps impossible

for a daily check to be carried out by District Officers, as the duties

of these officers involve frequent and unavoidable absences from

their offices.

We find that the accounts of the District office are

(K)

necessarily of a fairly simple character.

The chief difficulty in the

financial arrangements of this department lies in the wide geographical

separation of its three revenue collecting offices, with the resulting

problem of the safe carriage of large sums of money.

RECOMMENDATIONS.

(10) We recommend that:-

(A)

An immediate examination of the whole accounting system of

(B)

(c)

(D)

the District Office by the Accountant General in order to ascertain

whether any reorganisation of the system is necessary.

The account books of this department should be checked from

In making this recommendation we

time to time by the Treasury.

realise that the Treasury has been handicapped since the war by an accute

shortage of inspection staff.

Some if not all of the account books of the department

should be checked and initialled at least once a week by a District

Officer or an officer of equivalent rank.

The officer appointed to take charge of accounts should be

given clear instructions in writing regarding the scope of his

responsibilities, and these instructions should be noted by all

senior officers of the department and by all subordinate officers in

the accounts section.