THE Commission on Audit (COA) has rendered, for the very first time, an “unqualified opinion” in its Annual Audit Report for the city of Makati for calendar year 2017, Makati Mayor Abigail Binay announced on Tuesday.
In her letter of transmittal addressed to the mayor, COA Director for Local Government Sector-National Capital Region Adelina Concepcion Ancajas said the commission had “rendered an unqualified opinion on the fairness of presentation of the financial statements of the city.”
Based on a summary published in the official web site of the COA dating back to 2007, Makati had received its “qualified opinion” in 2007, and from 2010 up to 2016.
Binay said that an unqualified audit opinion is the best opinion an auditor can issue. “It means that our financial report for 2017 has fully satisfied the requirements of the auditor. This is the first time that Makati has earned the highest audit rating from the COA,” she pointed out.
In auditing parlance, an unqualified opinion means that financial statements conform to Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, and that they fairly represent the entity’s financial accounts.
The mayor attributed the latest achievement of the city to the full support of all city government departments and offices to the reforms and innovations implemented by her administration.
“I would like to acknowledge the efforts of all the departments and offices of the city government to achieve the highest level of compliance with laws governing the appropriation, management and utilization of government funds. This unprecedented achievement for our city proves that we can achieve anything through unity and collaboration,” Binay said.
Following the implementation of reforms aimed to enhance efficiency and transparency in the systems and operations at City Hall, the city’s revenue collections increased by 12 percent in 2017. It was the first time in 12 years that the city posted a two-digit increase in its annual revenue collections. From January to April this year, total revenue collections of the city reached P11.1 billion, or a 9-percent increase over the same period last year.
To date, health, education and social welfare services remain the top priorities of the administration of Mayor Binay.
This year these sectors received a combined budget allocation of P8.4 billion. The said amount is 4.4 percent higher than last year’s, and takes up almost half of the city’s total budget for the year.
Health has the biggest budget with almost P4.1 billion, followed by education with P2.8 billion, and social welfare with P1.5 billion. The said amounts cover expenditures for regular programs and new initiatives, personal services, maintenance and other operating expenses, financial expenses and capital outlay.