VANCOUVER - British Columbia's Speaker of the House has accepted blame after the auditor general panned the legislature Thursday for keeping "messy" financial records full of "substantial irregularities."
But Bill Barisoff also said he's been actively overseeing a clean-up of the accounts over the past year, and so was caught off-guard by the harsh review.
"From our perspective, we're a little bit surprised," Barisoff said in an interview.
"It gives the indication that we have been doing absolutely nothing. Have we done it as quick and as efficiently as we might have -- should have? No. Could we have done better? Probably. Are we doing a lot of things? Yes."
Barisoff, a Liberal MLA who has been Speaker for eight years, oversees an $83 million budget that covers the salaries of all legislative members, as well as operational costs.
His office was first notified by Auditor General John Doyle in 2007 that the legislature needed to bring its accounting practices in line with Canada's generally accepted standards.
Doyle released a statement Thursday that said the Legislative Assembly is falling short of basic financial management practices that have been heeded by other sectors of the provincial government.
"The audit identified a large number of significant and serious issues. As a result, I am unable to conclude as to whether the amounts recorded in the financial records we examined are correct," Doyle said. "I recommend that the Legislative Assembly take immediate steps to address numerous deficiencies identified within the audit."
Barisoff said his office has already been taking steps to address the problems.
That includes working with a former auditor general to figure out how to implement Doyle's recommendations, hiring another person to work in the controller's office and bringing in the firm Deloitte for more assistance getting things in order.
As a result of Doyle's report, they will also likely speed up the hiring of one more individual who can do an internal audit, he said.
Barisoff said he expects the issues can be rectified by April 2013, which is the end of the budget year.
The scathing review was released a day after Doyle also took aim at the provincial finance ministry, when Finance Minister Kevin Falcon's released the latest public accounts. The auditor said the government understated the deficit by $520 million.
Falcon has disagreed with the assessment, saying B.C. has followed accounting practices used across North America and is on track to balancing its budget by 2013-2014.
Tamsyn Burgmann reports for The Canadian Press.
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Hakuin
42 weeks ago
harrrumph! , ah yasss, "messy"
indeed, a term to which the practice of double-entry book-keeping is entirely foreign, if I do say so meself.
Could it be, could it be if I daresayso, that the mot juste in this case might possible be in fact "fraudulent"?
Hmmmm? (pass the sherry there's a good lad)
crankypants
42 weeks ago
The problem is
The problem is that we have a situation where the fox is guarding the henhouse. The majority, or maybe all of our MLAs are playing within the rules and spending our tax dollars appropriately. The question is whether they have the backbone to justify these expenditures and the appropriate, submitted proof of these expenditures.
It seems to boil down to nothing more than our elected officials saying "trust me" without ever having to prove that they have earned our trust. They operate as if the only people they are responsible to is themselves.
The various parties seek our support every four years then tend to operate with the integrity of any street gang.
It's no wonder they are given the same respect one would give to a snake oil salesman.
Vox.Pop
42 weeks ago
We cannot afford these clowns.
These representatives of the parties (not the people) are costing the public about $1 million each per year. This is far too much. They are NOT worth that kind of money & no business could ever justify its operations if each employee cost it one million dollars a piece.
We need a party that will promise to pay MLAs no more than $100,000 per year & a maximum of $50,000 in expenses. Indeed, EVERY expense should be posted on a public website so that, we the people, can check every penny being spent. It is only transparency that will clean out this rotten system.
Perry
42 weeks ago
Incompetent and corrupt politicians
The CBC article on this story states:
NDP MLA John Horgan said he and his fellow politicians should be chastened by Doyle's report.
"I think this is an embarrassment for all members of the legislature. This isn't a partisan issue. This is an issue of our ability to manage our affairs. And I think the public, when they look at this, are going to shake their heads in disappointment, and that's a slight for all of us," Horgan said.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2012/07/26/bc-legislature-books-auditor-general.html
Horgan was also interviewed on CBC radio this morning and he used the word 'incompetent' to describe himself and his colleagues. Of course, when the only apt description is a choice between 'incompetent' and 'corrupt and criminal', then of course he would choose the lesser of two evils. But neither the CBC website story nor this Canadian Press report contains Horgan's admission of incompetence.
When MLAs were given a few pay raises, increased benefits and more lucrative pensions over the last decade or so, while the poor were tossed meatless bones and fell deeper into poverty, one of the main arguments was that those high salaries and benefits were necessary to attract the most competent people into politics. But every day brings new revelations exposing just how incompetent and corrupt the political system is.
Indignez vous! Time for Outrage! - Get Angry! Cry Out
by Stéphane Hessel - English translation
http://www.scribd.com/doc/91929140/Indignez-vous-Time-for-Outrage-Stephane-Hessel-English
Perry
42 weeks ago
former aide to Harper charged with influence peddling
Vancouver Sun reported this morning:
The RCMP have formally charged a former senior aide to Prime Minister Stephen Harper with influence peddling.
"Any individual who doesn't respect our laws must face their full force as well as the consequences that come with them," said Andrew MacDougall, Harper's director of communications.
***
And that goes for our politicians, including Harper.
Vox.Pop
42 weeks ago
Professional politicians
The extremely low regard for professional politicians (way below used-car salesmen & close to lawyers) held by most members of the public means that very few decent, competent people are prepared to run for public office. This leaves the greedy & self-serving to compete amongst themselves. There is no reason to reward these types with high incomes for guzzling at the trough.
Hakuin
42 weeks ago
or we could let them guzzle.
and then at the end of their term execute them. With the proviso that a referendum be held to determine the degree of pain said execution would entail.
mosisi
27 weeks ago
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