OFFICE OF THE AUDITOR GENERAL THE REPUBLIC OF UGANDA REPORT OF THE AUDITOR GENERAL ON THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS OF THE UGANDA MEDICAL AND DENTAL PRACTITIONERS COUNCIL FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 TH JUNE 2014 OFFICE OF THE AUDITOR GENERAL UGANDA
TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE List of Acronyms... ii Report of the Auditor General on the Financial Statements of the Uganda Medical and Dental Practitioners Council for the Year ended 30 th June 2014... 1 Detailed Report of the Auditor General on the Financial Statements of the Uganda Medical and Dental Practitioners Council for the Financial Year ended 30 th June 2014... 3 1.0 Introduction... 3 2.0 Background Information... 3 3.0 Functions of the Council... 3 4.0 Financing of the Council... 4 5.0 Audit Objectives... 4 6.0 Procedures Performed... 5 7.0 Findings... 5 i
LIST OF ACRONYMS GoU ISA NCHE PFAA UGX UMDPC Government of Uganda International Standards on Auditing National Council of Higher Education Public Finance and Accountability Act Uganda Shillings Uganda Medical and Dental Practitioners Council ii
REPORT OF THE AUDITOR GENERAL ON THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS OF THE UGANDA MEDICAL AND DENTAL PRACTITIONERS COUNCIL FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 TH JUNE 2014 THE RT. HON. SPEAKER OF PARLIAMENT I have audited the accompanying financial statements of the Uganda Medical and Dental Practitioners Council (UMDPC) for the year ended 30 th June 2014. These financial statements comprise of the Statement of Financial Position as at 30 th June 2014, Statement of Financial Performance, Statement of Changes in Equity, Cash flow Statement together with other accompanying statements, notes and accounting policies. Management Responsibility for the Financial Statements Under Section 14 of the Uganda Medical and Dental Practitioners Act, Cap 272 of the Laws of Uganda 2000, the Uganda Medical and Dental Practitioners Council is responsible for the preparation of financial statements for each financial year that give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the Council as at the end of the financial year. The Council is also responsible for the preparation of financial statements in accordance with the International Financial Reporting Standards and for such internal controls as it determines are necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement whether due to fraud or error. Auditor s Responsibility My responsibility as required by Article 163 of the Constitution of the Republic of Uganda, 1995 (as amended) and Sections 13 and 19 of the National Audit Act, 2008 is to express an opinion on the financial statements based on my audit. I conducted my audit in accordance with the International Standards on Auditing. The standards require that I comply with ethical requirements and plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance on whether the financial statements are free from material misstatement. An audit involves performing audit procedures to obtain audit evidence about the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements as well as evidence supporting compliance with relevant laws and regulations. The procedures selected depend on the Auditor s judgment, including the assessment of risks of material misstatement of the financial statements whether due to fraud or error. In making those risk assessments, the Auditor considers internal controls relevant to the entity s preparation and fair presentation of financial 1
statements in order to design audit procedures that are appropriate in the circumstances, but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the entity s internal controls. An audit also includes evaluating the appropriateness of accounting policies used and the reasonableness of accounting estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements. I believe that the audit evidence I have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for my opinion. Part A of my report sets out my opinion on the financial statements. Part B which forms an integral part of this report presents in detail all the significant audit findings made during the audit which have been brought to the attention of management. PART "A" Opinion In my opinion, the financial statements of the Uganda Medical and Dental Practitioners Council present fairly in all material respects the financial position as at 30 th June, 2014 and the income and expenditure for the year then ended in accordance with the International Financial Reporting Standards. Other Matter Without qualifying my opinion, I consider it necessary to communicate the following matter other than those that are presented or disclosed in the financial statements. Staffing Gaps Out of the approved staff establishment of 22 positions, only 14 were filled leaving 8 vacancies. Among the vacancies were; Quality Assurance Manager, Field Inspector, Internal Auditor and Procurement Officer which are critical in fulfilling the Council s mandate and effective service delivery. John F. S. Muwanga AUDITOR GENERAL 6 th March 2015 2
PART B DETAILED REPORT OF THE AUDITOR GENERAL ON THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS OF THE UGANDA MEDICAL AND DENTAL PRACTITIONERS COUNCIL FOR THE FINANCIAL YEAR ENDED 30 TH JUNE 2014 This section outlines in detail the audit scope, audit findings, my recommendations and management responses in respect thereof. 1.0 INTRODUCTION Article 163 (3) of the Constitution of the Republic of Uganda, 1995 (as amended) requires me to audit and report on the public accounts of Uganda and all public offices including the courts, the central and local government administrations, universities, and public institutions of the like nature and any public corporation or other bodies or organizations established by an Act of Parliament. Accordingly, I carried out the audit of the Council to enable me report to Parliament. 2.0 BACKGROUND INFORMATION The UMDPC was created by the Uganda Medical and Dental Practitioners Act Cap 272 of the Laws of Uganda, 2000 as a body corporate to protect society through the regulation of medical and dental training and practice in Uganda. The Council has nine (9) members; including a Chairperson who is a senior practitioner appointed by the Minister of Health. The Council also has a secretariat, with a Registrar who serves as the Secretary to the Council and participates in the deliberations of the Council, but has no voting rights. 3.0 FUNCTIONS OF THE COUNCIL The Council s objectives are: To monitor and exercise general supervision and control over and maintenance of professional medical and dental educational standards, including continuing education; To promote the maintenance and enforcement of professional medical and dental ethics; To exercise general supervision of medical and dental practice at all levels; To exercise disciplinary control over medical and dental practitioners; 3
To protect society from abuse of medical and dental practice as well as research on human beings; To advise and make recommendations to the Government on matters relating to the medical and dental professions; To exercise any power and perform any duty authorized or required by the Act or any other law; To disseminate to the Medical and Dental Practitioners and the Public, ethics relating to doctor-patient rights and obligations and; For the purposes of discharging its functions under the Act, to perform any other function or act relating to medical or dental practice as the Minister may direct. 4.0 FINANCING OF THE COUNCIL The Council was financed through local sources. It realised fees amounting to UGX.1,015,204,974 from the Medical and Dental Practitioners licenses, renewals, late registration and other similar sources. 5.0 AUDIT OBJECTIVES The audit was carried out in accordance with the International Standards on Auditing and accordingly included a review of the accounting records, agreed procedures as was considered necessary. In conducting my reviews, special attention was paid to establish whether: a. The Financial Statements for the Council were prepared in accordance with the requirements of the International Financial Reporting Standards and that they present fairly the financial performance and position of the Council as at 30 th June 2013; b. Sufficient internal controls were applied consistently throughout the year to safeguard the assets of the Council and mitigate the risk of misstatement of the financial statements; c. All necessary supporting documents and records were maintained and are in agreement with the financial statements presented; d. Goods and services were procured in accordance with the Government of Uganda (GoU) procurement regulations; e. The Council s assets were well managed in the period under review. 4
6.0 PROCEDURES PERFORMED a) Revenue/Receipts Obtained schedules of receipts and reconciled the amounts to the Council s cashbooks and bank statements. b) Expenditure Vouched transactions to establish whether documentation in support of the expenditures agreed with the amounts and descriptions on the vouchers; reviewed and reconciled the bank statement transactions to test for occurrence and whether they were properly controlled and accounted for. c) Internal Control System Reviewed the internal control system and its operations to establish whether the controls were sound and were applied throughout the period under review. d) Procurement Reviewed the procurement of goods and services during the period under review and reconciled with the procurement plan. e) Fixed Asset Management Reviewed the use and the management of the Council s assets during the period under review. f) Financial Statements Examined, on a test basis, evidence supporting the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements; assessed the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management; as well as evaluating the overall financial statement presentation. 7.0 FINDINGS 7.1 Staffing Gaps A review of the Council s organizational structure and the approved staff establishment revealed that out of 22 positions only 14 were filled, leaving 8 positions vacant. Among the vacancies were; Quality Assurance Manager, Field 5
Inspector, Internal Auditor and Procurement Officer which are critical in fulfilling the Council s mandate and effective service delivery. The Accounting Officer explained that the Council had been recruiting 2-3 staff annually and that new recruitment was impeded by lack of office accommodation. Meanwhile the posts of Field Inspector, Quality Assurance and Procurement Officer would be filled in the financial year 2015/2016. I advised the Accounting Officer to ensure that the approved positions are filled for better service delivery. 7.2 Review and Approval of Curricula UMDPC is supposed to promote and monitor professional education and training in various training institutions in Uganda, through reviewing and approving curricula and conducting inspection/support supervision of medical training institutions. A review of the Council s annual report revealed that out of the thirteen (13) curricula reviewed for the various disciplines offered at different Universities during the year under review, only three (3) were approved, with ten (10) still pending. Failure to have the curricula approved impedes implementation of the disciplines by the medical training institutions. The Accounting Officer explained that UMDPC reviews the curricula together with National Council of Higher Education (NCHE). The curricula are submitted to UMDPC to make comments/reviews and then returned to NCHE. NCHE forwards them to the applying Universities to address the UMDPC concerns. The Universities respond to the comments/reviews through the NCHE again. Joint visits to the universities are then made by UMDPC and NCHE before the curricula are passed. The delays therefore arose because of the detailed processes. I have advised the Accounting Officer to ensure that together with NCHE the processes are streamlined to hasten the reviews and approvals of the curricula. 6
7.3 Specialist Registration A review of the annual report for 2014 revealed that out of 1,195 Specialists on the UMDPC register for Specialists, only 757 (37%) renewed their practicing licenses during the year. It was not explained why the Specialists had not renewed their licenses. This not only posed the risk of loss of revenue to the Council of UGX.43,800,000 (UGX.100,000 X 438) but also endangered the lives of unsuspecting patients seeking for medical services from the non-registered medical practitioners. The Accounting Officer attributed the anomaly to staffing gaps and lack of enforcement. He further explained that they were in the process of identifying all doctors (specialists/generalists) who were on the register but not in active practice. This is expected to give an accurate estimate of the doctors expected to pay the annual licenses. Currently there are so many doctors on the register who are not practicing. I advised the Accounting Officer to ensure that adequate capacity is put in place to appropriately monitor and enforce registration of all practitioners in active business. 7
FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 8