There hasn?t been much eye-to-eye agreement between the Auditor General Larry Dennis and Minister of Works and Engineering David Burch in recent days, but the two are of equal mind when it comes to giving poor marks to the state of accounting in the Ministry of Works and Engineering and its associated departments.

So much so that an officer at the West End Development Corporation has been ?disciplined? after the quango was criticised by the AG for having incomplete minutes of meetings and not securing Ministerial approval for its budget within the requisite timeframe.

Getting such things up to scratch is the mission of Sen. Burch, he told fellow Senators he recognised the value of the Auditor General?s report into the state of reporting of financial affairs and decisions within his Ministry.

?I am possessed with a keen desire to achieve a completely clean audit for the entire Ministry of Works and Engineering and Housing,? he said.

Another area within his sphere of influence, the Board of Trustees of the Golf Courses who manage the Island?s three public courses, has also be criticised by the Auditor General for not having financial statements going back to 2002 available to be checked.

Sen. Burch said: ?I?m pleased to report the 2002 audit is now substantially complete and draft financial statements for 2003, 2004 and 2005 have been submitted to his office and are awaiting audit.

?I can also report that preliminary indications are that the accounting records are much improved. Steps have already been taken to provide the necessary resources and oversight to avoid any such occurrences in the future.?

For the Ministry of Works and Engineering and Housing there is concern about the tendering process for Government contracts, said Sen. Burch. He said it was a concern he shared with the Office of the Auditor General. ?We accept without reservation the Auditor General?s recommendation in this regard. Directives given to technical officers and to the Purchasing and Tendering Committee are that there must be a clear path to the table for those seeking to compete for Government contracts.

?I must confess I am personally more than a little frustrated that progress on this initiative has stalled but I remain confident that we will fulfil this recommendation this current financial year.?

And Sen. Burch said there needs to be more recognition for the improvements made within the Bermuda Housing Corporation in the past four years although he conceded that six recommendations by the AG had to be addressed, mostly relating to an old computer system ? an issue that was identified in 2002 and should be remedied in the next two years.

?These issues will finally be resolved within the next two years as we are in the process of reviewing existing computer systems at all three Government quangos.?

Sen. Burch also reported that BHC finance manager Richard Fox, who had tendered his resignation earlier this year, has since decided to stay at the corporation.

The Minister added: ?I acknowledge the value of the report of the Auditor General and the constitutional responsibility of his office, and in doing so, I confirm that I will do all I can to ensure that everyone in the Ministry works tirelessly to completely eliminate the issues that gave rise to the recommendations of the Auditor General.?