The Makati City government for the first time earned an unqualified opinion from the Commission on Audit in its 2017 Audit Report citing the fairness of presentation of the city’s financial statements.
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.
In a letter to Mayor Abigail Binay, Adelina Concepcion Ancajas, COA director for Local Government Sector—National Capital Region stated that 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 website of 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 CoA,” she pointed out.
Binay 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,” she 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 nine 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, 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.
