Some three attached agencies of the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) received the highest audit rating from the Commission on Audit (COA) for calendar year 2019.
The COA gave the News and Information Bureau (NIB), Bureau of Communication Services (BCS), and Presidential Broadcast Staff-Radio Television Malacañang (PBS-RTVM) an “unqualified opinion” on the fairness of presentation of their respective financial statements, according to the Executive Summary on 2019 audit posted on COA’s website.
The NIB, which supervises the Philippines News Agency, received the highest audit rating for the third straight year. This is also an improvement from 2016.
In 2016, the COA cited how NIB failed to record office supplies issuances; had a discrepancy in balances; and understated income due to the non-recognition of subscription fees.
In 2019, the NIB received a recognition from the Government Quality Management Committee (GQMC) for successfully establishing a Quality Management System certified to International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 9001: 2015.
The GQMC, chaired by the Department of Budget and Management, serves as a policy-making body of the Government Quality Management Program (GQMP) that aims to enhance client satisfaction and public sector productivity through government-wide quality improvement.
The BCS, which also received GQMC recognition last year, received its highest audit rating for the fourth straight year.
The BCS improved its financial reports to COA from 2016 to 2019 compared to its submissions in previous years.
In 2015, COA pointed out that there were erroneous charging due of Representation Expenses to Other Maintenance and Operating Expenses affecting the reliability of the accounts balances.
The last time the PBS-RTVM received the highest audit rating was in 2016.
PBS-RTVM is the government’s media arm mandated to cover all the activities of the President and the Executive Branch as well as the First Family.
The unqualified audit opinion is considered the best a government agency can receive from COA. It is issued when auditor believes that a state office has fairly and appropriately presented, without any identified exceptions, its financial statements during the audit.
The PCOO is the premier communications arm of the Executive Branch responsible for serving the public through its information services such as news releases, press briefing, websites and the like.
Other attached agencies of the PCOO include the Bureau of Broadcast Services (BBS), National Printing Office (NPO), Philippine Information Agency (PIA), APO Production Unit Inc., People’s Television Network, and Intercontinental Broadcasting Corporation. (PNA)
