Vol. 476 No. 6
22 Mr. Foley asked the Minister for Finance the current position of those Departments who do not have an accurate asset register; and the proposals, if any, there are to encourage these Departments to comply with the regulations. [6492/97]
I am not in a position to account for the current state of development of assets registers in individual Departments, as that is a matter for each accounting officer.
The Comptroller and Auditor General in his report on the 1995 Appropriation Accounts expressed his concern that further action is needed to ensure that all fixed assets are correctly and uniformly recorded, and I fully support his view that such recording is essential for effective control over the capital assets of Government Departments.
My Department took the following steps in 1996 to encourage Departments to comply with the requirements regarding fixed assets:
(1) following consultation with the Valuation Office, we issued a circular outlining the kind of information needed to assess the value of land and buildings. The circular (14/96) advised Departments which needed assistance with valuations to compile the requisite information and to forward it to the Valuation Office. The circular also specified that the required information on land and buildings was to be available to auditors in the course of audit of the 1996 accounts,
(2) as it appeared that Departments required further assistance with the valuation of It assets including software on the policy side, a cross-Departmental working group was set up to devise expanded guidelines for the inclusion of It assets in assets registers. The guidelines are being finalised and will be issued shortly, after consultation with the Comptroller and Auditor General's Office. It is hoped that the issue of the guidelines will ensure consistency among Departments in regard to the treatment of IT assets,
(3) information seminars were held both on the general requirements for the 1996 Accounts and also in regard to the treatment of IT assets in assets registers.
At the Deputy will appreciate, my Department's efforts were confined to clarifying policy.
The development of the actual systems for recording fixed assets must be pursued by the individual Accounting Officers. My Department will keep the matter under review.
