of support given to them by Parliament, the civil service union claimed.

And the Bermuda Public Services Association has sprung to the defence of former Accountant General Heather Matthews, saying Parliament's public accounts committee highlighted a lack of resources and past problems.

But Auditor Larry Dennis yesterday reaffirmed that he was only highlighting the issue of sloppy and late reporting.

Problems within the office may be from lack of sufficient staff or lack of support from Government, not just incompetency, Mr. Dennis said, deflecting the criticism of BPSA general secretary Ed Ball.

Calling the front page March 14 Royal Gazette article an "attack'', Mr. Ball said it was an attempt to "obscure the long history of neglect and serious lack of accountability'' found by Ms Matthews when she took the job in 1994.

It was also designed to "discredit and malign the credibility'' of the professional accountants who face a "daunting task of righting past wrongs''.

Last year Heather Matthews retired from the post and was replaced by fellow Bermudian Anthony Richardson.

In the article, Mr. Dennis called for new accountants to be hired from overseas -- if necessary -- to collect and monitor the coffers and unpaid taxes.

Mr. Ball said the number crunchers "face an almost insurmountable task in carrying out their day to day responsibilities and are only now getting the resources and support they began to request in 1994''.

Admitting the Auditor has a "right to address accountability issues'' he said comments made in the article were not substantiated.

The offending comments include "bungling in public spending'', "millions of dollars in unaccounted for cash'' and "accountants not being up to scratch''.

"In fact, the Ministry of Finance confirms that issues such as the collection of taxes are currently being addressed,'' Mr. Ball said.

Mr. Ball said the committee "brought attention to the lack of resources provided to the Accountant General over a five-year period and made reference to `past problems' which `have been documented in detail'.'' In August 1999 the committee included Shadow Finance Minister, chairman Grant Gibbons and former senior Finance Ministry officer Delaey Robinson, now a Government backbencher.

"The committee noted that requests by the Accountant General for resources in 1994 and again in 1996 were not approved until 1999,'' Mr. Ball continued.

He said the committee noted that lack of "suitable'' office space "hampered productivity''.

According to Mr. Ball, in 1996 a threat by the Health and Safety Office to close the department due to conditions and a further threat by the BPSA got the department additional space.

The committee also recognised Ms Matthews for increasing the "timeliness and professionalism'' in the department's reports.

"The full story has yet to be told, and yes there is much more,'' Mr. Ball said.

"Suffice it to say that the resignation of the Accountant General in 1999 was, in her own words, directly related to the lack of support from her superiors and their lack of understanding and appreciation of her role as the Government's Chief Accounting Officer.'' When contacted yesterday, Mr. Dennis said the report did not directly criticise Government accountants, and suggested a careful reading of his comments in the reports would clear up any misunderstandings.

"I have never said the accountants were unqualified,'' Mr. Dennis said.

"What I said is, if the work is not getting done then there are three reasons. It's not up to me to say which one is the cause.

"The work is not up to the quality that you would expect. Somebody has to point this out. The very basic things are not being done. If it is not competency or staffing then it's lack of support or vice versa. Yes, my job is to point this out.''