COA flags DepEd for P1.9-B unliquidated cash advances

State auditors have called out the central and regional offices of the Department of Education (DepEd) for accumulating over P1.922 billion in unliquidated cash advances in 2019.

The Commission on Audit (COA) noted that P1.158 billion were unliquidated cash advances which have been pending for one to 10 years.

“The significant amount of unliquidated cash advances is a result of deficiencies on the granting, liquidation and monitoring of cash advances, which is contrary to existing COA rules and regulations and DepEd guidelines relative thereto,” state auditors said.

The COA recently released its 2019 audit report on the DepEd, which showed that unliquidated cash advances by the central office and 11 regional offices have reached P1,922,340,516.26.

The report noted that of this figure, at least P250.5 million were “aged more than one year to more than 10 years” while P907.8 million was aged for less than a year, for a total of P1.158 billion.

According to the COA, DepEd Region 5 had the highest amount of unliquidated cash advance at P445.521 million, followed by Region 6 with P411.011 million.

State auditors told DepEd to strictly comply with existing COA rules and DepEd guidelines.