THE Commission on Audit (CoA) flagged P341 million worth of procurement budgets at the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) that lacked adequate supporting documents and cited nearly P13 million in missing PhilSys and information technology equipment in its 2025 audit report.
CoA said the unaccounted assets exposed the agency to risks of loss, misuse, misappropriation and inaccurate property records.
Auditors said the PSA had failed to adequately validate market prices and support the approved budget for contracts covering P341 million in procurements.
State auditors said the agency lacked documents such as historical contract prices, market research, canvass sheets and supplier quotations to justify the budget estimates.
The missing assets were reported by regional statistical service offices in the National Capital Region, Central Luzon and Western Visayas.
CoA also found P42.74 million in overstated supply allotments and irregularities in small-value procurement transactions.
Auditors said some notices of award, purchase orders and contracts carried inconsistent approval dates, while some purchase orders were signed after goods or services had already been delivered or were due for delivery.
The audit report also cited procurement and inventory management weaknesses that left equipment unused or underused and resulted in slow-moving, expired and nearly expired supplies.
State auditors identified P25.49 million worth of slow-moving, nonmoving and underused supplies and equipment, including printer consumables, fingerprint scanners, iris scanners, web cameras and monitors.
CoA also flagged P828,000 in unnecessary spending by the PSA Central Office and several regional offices, including unsupported flight rebooking and cancellation expenses, travel reimbursements that exceeded allowable daily travel costs and utility surcharges caused by delayed bill payments.
The audit report cited accounting errors affecting cash in bank, receivables from National Government agencies, inventories, property and equipment and accounts payable.
“Various errors and omissions in the keeping of the accounts had affected the completeness and accuracy of account balances reported in the financial statements,” state auditors said.
CoA found problems in the PSA’s accounting records or financial reporting that were significant enough to prevent it from giving a completely clean audit opinion, but not serious enough to conclude that the entire financial statements were unreliable.
As of Dec. 31, 2025, the PSA had P596.409 million in unsettled notices of suspension, disallowance and charge. Of the P585.45 million in disallowances from previous years, P446.62 million remained under appeal before the commission proper. — Pexcel John Bacon