Accounting Officer’s Trust Account
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WRITTEN QUESTIONS
10th Assembly
16/11/2005
246. Accounting Officer’s Trust Account
Ms Carney to MINISTER for Justice and Attorney-General
QUESTION
1. Was there a discrepancy in the Accounting Officer’s Trust Account last financial year?
2. Was the amount of this discrepancy in the order of $6,871 or an amount thereabouts?
3. Was the discrepancy in the area of money held on trust for prisoners in the NT?
4. Can you confirm that there has been no effective fraud protocols put in place until this year as indicated on page 20 of the Department of Justice Annual Report 2004/2005, under the heading Fraud Control Arrangements?
ANSWER
Answered on 31/10/2006
WRITTEN QUESTIONS
10th Assembly
16/11/2005
246. Accounting Officer’s Trust Account
Ms Carney to MINISTER for Justice and Attorney-General
QUESTION
Accounting Officer’s Trust Account
1. Was there a discrepancy in the Accounting Officer’s Trust Account last financial year?
2. Was the amount of this discrepancy in the order of $6,871 or an amount thereabouts?
3. Was the discrepancy in the area of money held on trust for prisoners in the NT?
4. Can you confirm that there has been no effective fraud protocols put in place until this year as indicated on page 20 of the Department of Justice Annual Report 2004/2005, under the heading Fraud Control Arrangements?
ANSWER
Answered on 31/10/2006
- Unreconciled item – Accountable Officer’s Trust Account
As noted in the Department of Justice 2005-06 Annual Report, an end of year agency compliance audit carried out by the Auditor-General’s Office found that there was an unreconciled item in the Accountable Officer’s Trust Account.
The unreconciled item identified in the report totalled $6,871 and related to a discrepancy between the Prisoner Money Management System (PMMS) and the Government Accounting System.
Full reconciliation of the system has been achieved at Darwin Correctional Centre and it is expected that the same will be achieved at Alice Springs Correctional Centre shortly.
Fraud control protocols
In 2004-05 the Auditor-General conducted an audit of fraud control arrangements in a range of agencies, including the Department of Justice and found an inconsistent approach to fraud control arrangements across Government.
As noted on page 20 of the Department of Justice Annual Report, the Department agreed with the recommendations put forward by the Auditor-General and in fact had already adopted and commenced implementation of the DCIS fraud prevention and control policy, as recommended by the Auditor-General, before he undertook his audit. The policy has been published on the department’s intranet site and in the Accounting and Property Manual.
It is worth noting that no incidents of fraud have been identified within the Department of Justice.
Last updated: 04 Aug 2016