Auditor about the financial statement of the Consolidated Fund.

Auditor Larry Dennis drew attention to three areas of Government's accounts where he was unable to obtain complete or accurate information.

In his audit of the Fund as of March 31 this year, Mr. Dennis said he encountered problems assessing the amount of money paid in stamp duty from property transactions, the state of the pension fund, and employee leave entitlements.

Because he could not obtain satisfactory assurances about the true state of the finances in these areas, he was only able to provide a qualified opinion on the financial statements.

Auditor's report Mr. Dennis noted, however, that the accounting policies used were consistent with those of preceding years.

In a statement last night, Finance Minister Eugene Cox said: "The Auditor has given a qualified opinion on the financial statements in respect to stamp duty, Superannuation Fund and employee leave entitlement matters.

"The Ministry of Finance, with the Accountant General's Assistance, is preparing an action plan to address the Auditor's concerns in these areas and anticipates their satisfactory resolution.'' The consolidated fund statement showed Government's accumulated deficit had reduced by $5 million in the financial year to March 31, falling from $360,733,445 to $355,165,399.

Mr. Cox said the figures should be treated with caution because adjustments may need to be made.

In his report, Mr. Dennis states that the reported value of land and property transfers was $407 million, which should have generated stamp duty of $13.3 million.

However, the amount of stamp duty recorded was only $9.2 million. "I was unable to determine on which land transfers stamp duty had been received,'' he states.

"Accordingly, my verification of these revenues was limited to the amounts recorded in the records of the Consolidated Fund and I was not able to determine whether any adjustments might be necessary to revenue, assets and deficit for the year.'' He continued: "I have not been able to obtain adequate assurance on the completeness and accuracy of the actuarial valuation on which the pension liability of $221.1 million and pension-related expenditures of $12.6 million might have been calculated.''