State auditors have flagged the National Privacy Commission over P11.3 million worth of doubtful account balances.

The 2022 audit report for the NPC showed that the agency had reconciled dues from national government agencies totaling P11,298,894.53 as of 31 December 2022.

The Commission on Audit, or CoA, labeled such accumulations of funds "doubtful" due to non-reconciliation between the books of NPCs and the Procurement Service of the Department of Budget and Management's books, which runs counter to Section 7.2 of CoA Circular 2016-005. 

The section mandates the reconciliation of unliquidated fund transfers between the source and the implementing entities, prepares the adjusting entries, and requires the liquidation of balances.

Based on the audit, the NPC's accountant had monitored the transactions with the PS-DBM, but CoA said the accounting section still failed to reconcile the balance of the dues from NGA accounts on advances to PS-DBM amounting to P11,298,894.53 "because it is having a hard time locating the delivery receipts from the PS-DBM as no turnover of documents from the previous accountant was made."

"It is worth mentioning that the officials concerned are still exerting efforts to reconcile the same by tracing all the fund transfers made to PS-DBM and matching these to the deliveries the commission had received in previous years," it said.

Result, zero balance

After an audit, it was revealed that PS-DBM had reverted its balance to the Bureau of the Treasury, resulting in a zero balance in its books.

"However, the documents evidencing the reversion still needed to be provided to the accountant for the necessary entries to be prepared. The Accounting, Supplies, and Property Sections have been requesting a meeting with the PS-DBM since February 2023, but it remained unheeded," CoA added.