The already-delayed government-wide financial audit is facing yet another setback as GovGuam agencies are lacking key financial personnel. It has the Office of the Public Accountability calling for legislative reform to implement salary parity across the board. 

The public sector-wide Fiscal Year 2024 financial audit is delayed once again, after already facing a seven-month delay, causing frustration for the OPA.  "I’ve been trying to get it out. I was just screaming at them last Friday," said Public Auditor BJ Cruz, noting that by law, that audit was supposed to be released last June. 

"Unfortunately, because the GDOE audit and the GMH audit had not been completed yet, it was delayed," he added.

Cruz says GDOE's financial audit was finally completed on New Year’s Day, allowing external auditors Ernst & Young to start finalizing the GovGuam audit. He says he was assured by the auditors and the Department of Administration that they would complete that audit by the end of January. 

"Unfortunately, they have not completed it. I’m still waiting to see a draft of the audit," he said. "I did see a draft audit of the compliance report, which is fairly extensive and make take some time for the government of Guam to respond to."

While there's no clear assurance on when the audit could be released, Cruz is hesitantly hopeful it will be out by the end of February. He says the constant delays are a concern as it could impact federal funding and budget preparations. 

"We got to get the [FY24 audit] because we got to get the [FY25 audit]. The legislature is insisting they want the audits before they can do their budgets," said Cruz.

Cruz says it's now in doa's hands, but admits they're also "suffering" as many employees working on the GovGuam audit have transferred or retired. The retention issue is a longstanding reason why agencies struggle to clear their books on time. He says with the lack of qualified accountants and auditors, autonomous agencies engage in a "bidding war" and poach employees from each other.

It's why Cruz is calling for salary parity across agencies, as he said, "I’ve been trying to get the legislature to pass legislation for parity on salaries between agencies for accountants and auditors throughout the government of Guam, so we don’t play this bidding war to keep outbidding."

Cruz says the legislature directed DOA leadership to come up with “market pricing” for these employees, but it has yet to be implemented. "There has to be parity otherwise everyone keeps pirating from each other, whoever is paying the most gets really good auditors and accountants," he said.

He says this lack of parity is affecting several agencies to include DOA, GDOE and Public Health-- all of whom handle “huge amounts of federal funds."