THE 2024 Auditor-General’s Report tabled in Parliament last week has highlighted major reconciliation weaknesses and missing beneficiary listings involving the Judiciary’s Trust Fund accounts, which held a combined balance of more than $49.5million as of July 31, 2024.
According to the report on the general administration sector, auditors identified recurring issues relating to unreconciled balances, incomplete records and the absence of detailed beneficiary breakdowns within the Judicial Trust Fund accounts.
The Judiciary maintains four major trust fund accounts comprising Suitors Trust, Maintenance Trust, Sundries Trust and Retention of Funds.
Audit figures showed the balances increased from a total of $46,061,928 in July 2023 to $49,510,619 in July 2024.
The report stated that the Suitors Trust Account increased from $36,746,334 in 2023 to $39,697,971 in 2024.
The Maintenance Trust Account increased from $1,009,200 to $1,106,993.
The Sundries Trust Account rose from $4,534,768 to $4,875,279.
The Retention of Funds Account also increased from $3,771,626 to $3,830,376.
Despite the growing balances, auditors said significant reconciliation issues remained unresolved.
“There still exists significant lapse in the years of reconciliation and absence of detailed breakdown listings of beneficiaries and their current balances except for Suitors Trust Fund Account,” the report stated.
“As such the accuracy of the closing balance reflected in the Judicial Trust Fund Account statement of receipts and payments for the year ended 31 July 2024 could not be determined.”
Auditors also found that the department was only compiling receipts and payments without preparing proper reconciliation statements showing opening balances, movements and closing balances.
The report further noted that reconciliations prepared were not signed off by either preparers or reviewers.
“In the absence of proper reconciliations, the audit was not able to ascertain the correctness of the balance reflected in the Judicial Trust Fund accounts,” the report stated.
The Auditor-General recommended that the Judiciary update reconciliation statements with detailed beneficiary listings and ensure all reconciliations include opening balances, movements and closing balances with proper endorsement.
In its management response, the Judiciary acknowledged the seriousness of the issue and said reconciling financial records dating back more than five years remained a significant challenge.
Management revealed that eight project staff had been engaged to tackle the backlog and current entries.
According to the response, a night shift team of eight staff members had been assigned exclusively to clearing backlog records, while a day shift team of six staff members was handling current entries to prevent further accumulation.
The Judiciary said both teams were currently focused on intensive data entry work and that proper reconciliations would be prepared once historical and current records were aligned.
Management also confirmed that while the Suitors Trust Fund listing was up to date, work was still ongoing to update the Sundries and Maintenance Trust accounts in collaboration with court registries.
Arrears stand at $11,748,818
THE Judiciary’s outstanding arrears of revenue stood at $11,748,818 as of July 31, 2024, despite a reduction of $937,605 from the previous year, according to the 2024 Auditor-General’s report tabled in Parliament last week.
The report on the general Administration Sector described the issue as a recurring concern and
warned that delays in collecting unpaid court-related revenue continued to pose a significant financial risk
to Government.
The arrears stem mainly from unpaid court fees, fines and costs awarded to the State.
Audit figures showed arrears of revenue declined from $12,686,423 in 2023 to $11,748,818 in 2024.
Historical figures included $14,000,394 in 2022 , $13,444,435 in 2021 and $12,999,522 in 2020 Despite
the establishment of a Fine Enforcement Unit in previous years, auditors noted that arrears remained
substantial.
The report revealed that the majority of unpaid revenue had remained outstanding for more than five years.
“The recovery measures warrant immediate review and collaborative actions with other government
agencies,” the report stated.
The Auditor-General warned that further delays in recovering the outstanding revenue increased the
likelihood that some debts may eventually need to be written off.
“Further delay in collecting the outstanding revenue increases the risk of revenue not likely to be collected
which may require writing it off resulting in loss of revenue for government,” the report stated.
Recommendations included strengthening the Fine Enforcement Unit and working collaboratively with
agencies such as the Fiji Revenue and Customs Service (FRCS), Fiji Police Force, Land Transport Authority (LTA), Immigration Department and Fiji National Provident Fund (FNPF) to improve recovery
efforts.
The report also recommended upgrading database systems to include details such as Tax Identification
Numbers (TIN), FNPF numbers, licence numbers and passport details to better track defaulters.
In its management response, the Judiciary acknowledged concerns over the large amount of uncollected revenue but stated that execution powers largely rested with the Police Department.
