The Ministry of Lands and Mineral Resources has created a new template to assist landowning units in preparing their financial statements for auditing purposes. During discussions on the review of the 2022 Audit Report concerning the Economic Sector on Thursday, the Ministry’s permanent secretary, Raijeli Taga, emphasized that extensive one-on-one training sessions have been conducted with the landowning units.
Taga expressed the ministry’s commitment to the recommendations from the Auditor-General’s Office, highlighting the importance of governance and transparency. She noted, “We have developed, in collaboration with the Auditor-General’s team, a template for the audit financial statements (AFS) that the landowning units are expected to use, along with extensive training sessions.”
In 2023, consultations took place with 14 landowning units, which included four face-to-face meetings and ten conducted via email. Taga acknowledged the challenges in reaching landowners due to their daytime commitments, sometimes necessitating special appointments for training sessions.
Looking ahead to 2024, the team has already begun consultations with ten landowning units through email and phone communication. Taga noted that this engagement is specifically aimed at gathering information for the new template intended for filling out trust fund accounts.
As part of their strategy, the Ministry is planning to continue face-to-face awareness sessions and site visits to the landowning units or trustees, with a trustee workshop scheduled for the second quarter of the year. A budget of $8,000 has been allocated for this initiative.
Moreover, the ongoing amendments to the Land Use Act focus on eliminating the requirement for trustees to submit annual financial statements, replacing it with an annual trustees’ workshop where the ministry’s finance team will monitor compliance with lease agreements related to the deeds of trust. This approach was developed through consultations with the Auditor-General’s Office, which helped in designing the current template used by the landowning units.