Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — The American Samoa Medicaid State Agency — referred to as the ASG Medicaid Office — “lacks an adequate fixed asset register and does not regularly inventory fixed assets,” according the Territorial Audit Office (TAO) in one of it’s findings following a performance audit of the agency for fiscal years ending Sept. 30, 2022.

Part six of the Samoa News reports on the performance audit, looks at the Medicaid Agency’s fixed assets, which TAO says make up a significant amount of the Agency local budget and spending other than personnel costs and “as such, it is important to ensure that proper controls are in place to safeguard ASG resource, tools, equipment, and vehicles.”

Although a dedicated government department is responsible for the recording of fixed assets, it is best practices for individual departments to establish their own internal and physical controls over fixed assets and regularly confirm that fixed assets within the department's controls are secured and safeguarded, the auditors explained.

“Our review of the administration and control over Agency's assets found that the Agency does not keep a detailed documented record o f all its assets,” said TAO, noting that provision of the Government Property Management Act requires the compilation of an asset register but for internal processes, the Agency would have benefited from maintaining a copy of the asset register.

According to TAO, the audit tested capital items purchased during the period of its audit scope. And the audit team was unable to locate numerous items that were purchased during the audit scope.

The audit report shows — for example — four capital items that were not found or were transferred to other agencies. “The absence of an asset register increases the risk of unrecorded assets, overstated or understated asset values, and unknown asset conditions only to name a few,” said TAO.

“Without a reliable and complete fixed asset register, it is very difficult to make good and sound decisions on assets and to utilize them to them maximize potential and to the best of the Agency's ability,” the auditor said, noting that further review of Agency operations confirmed a shortage in staff to support the Finance/Fiscal Operations team as well as the Administrative Support and Personnel team.

TAO recommends that the Agency perform the following practices:

•           Establish a complete and updated asset register to reflect asset movements and capture relevant information on the condition, location and cost

•           Conduct periodic and timely inspections through physical spot counts to ensure assets do exist and are in good condition

•           Reconcile assets on hand with the Property Management Office (PMO) records to ensure all assets are accounted for.

•           Affix property tags to all fixed assets.

In its response, Medicaid management agrees, saying that the administration staff will proceed as recommended. “Although this standard operating procedure is required internally, it needs to be revisited, performed and enforced by management,” management said.