States leaves a £73m. deficit off balance sheet
Saturday 26th November 2011, 2:29PM GMT.
Treasury and Resources minister Charles Parkinson.
THE States has overstated its reserves in the 2010 accounts by failing to comply with an accounting principle to demonstrate its pension deficit.
And chief accountant Bethan Haines admitted it was something that Treasury and Resources wanted to rectify.
Accounting principle FRS17 requires organisations to include their pension deficit/surplus on the balance sheet. Guernsey Electricity and Guernsey Post do this but the States does not.
But, while admitting in the States 2010 accounts that FRS17 was best practice, Treasury also acknowledged that it had not been adopted in full on its balance sheet.
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….they are just doodling along really, this lot. A deficit is a deficit, no matter what kind of cotton wool excuse you give!
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Quite right, Vic.
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Rotten to the core
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In the newspaper it said that the States do not follow generally accepted accounting principles. I don’t really understand how this is acceptable.
How can you assess the true position the States is in without them being followed? How can you take the accounts seriously? I find the whole thing deeply concerning. Accountability and transparency should be of paramount importance.
It also has the engagement partner from KPMG pretty much patting the States on the back saying how much their accounting standard has improved over the years. How poor was it in the first place? How long have KPMG not had the pension surplus/deficit in the books? How do you miss that one?
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Seems the cat is out of the bag now, hopefully this will end the “we are doing well in comparison” platitudes some of our elected members are so fond of. Hopefully very posative and now we can have a debate on the real situation instead of the Mc Millanesque “you never had it so good”. Strange I thought black was an absolute but the black hole got blacker but seemed to be red, maybe that was just the backgroud.
Resignations on the Baillifs desk by monday, ha ha dream on!
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Its called masking the truth, where else does this happen in the states?
It’s used to manipulate the people of guernsey and had gone on too long
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In the Finance industry we have to comply with all the various FAS & GFSC Rules and Laws etc.. How can Guernsey not ? Beggars belief really.. really not surprised though !
I am a Guernsey lad through and through.. but I am seriously thinking of leaving Guernsey for good soon.
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How will we ever discover how many millions we paid out to the UK fishermen?
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We had a cover-up on the deal with English fishermen and now hidden accounting about pensions, where else are this States covering up and who is responsible?
Just like the monetary balance of the islands someone MUST be open and accountable for EVERY penny of taxpayers money and where it is spent.
Without accountability how can anyone trust their elected deputies?
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The funny thing is, FRS 17 was effective since 2003 (although earlier adoption was encouraged).
Therefore the States haven’t been compliant with FRS 17 for 8 years and yet you’re all only moaning about it now.
A quick read of any States accounts auditors report reveal that the report is not linked to any GAAP at all and never has been.
But of course, as soon as the press mention it, heads automatically have to roll.
Really, get a grip!
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You’re quite correct that the states have never applied any normal form of GAAP. The issue is that they’re now trying to apply GAAP and not quite managing it, hence attention is being drawn to the bits they’ve missed in the past.
The strange thing is, if they know the deficit is £73m why not include it in the accounts as calculating it is the hardest part!
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Ray – If we are to believe a comment made a couple of months ago by Deputy Allister Langlois on Radio Guernsey then the payment for the fishing deal would, and has to be,incorporated somewhere within the expenditure for the Commerce and Employment department. Over the last 4 years these have risen by roughly half a million pounds a year so will be interesting to see what the 2011 figures are! That is of course if what he states is the truth!
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