BVIEC five years behind on audited financial statements

The BVI Electricity Corporation’s latest completed audited financial statements date back to 2021, leaving the publicly owned utility five years behind in its financial reporting.

BVIEC General Manager Dr Neil Smith disclosed the information during a press conference earlier this week after he was asked when the corporation would publish its outstanding statements.

“I think the latest year, and I’m going to explain… it’s 2021,” Smith stated.

Smith attributed the delay partly to installing a new enterprise system that connects the corporation’s work processes, employee hours, and purchasing operations.

“What we have done is we installed a new enterprise system that links everything together. Links your work process, your work hours, purchasing, everything together,” Smith stated.

He said BVIEC needed to ensure that the system contained the required information before completing the financial statements.

Smith also placed some responsibility on the auditing firms hired to examine the corporation’s accounts.

“Some of the fault also is the auditing companies, not auditing as fast as they should. So I think both of us are at fault a little. But we are addressing a problem,” Smith stated.

The general manager said BVIEC had worked on the backlog over the past year and expected to resolve it soon. When asked whether he felt embarrassed that the corporation remained five years behind, Smith said he recognised the problem.

“I’m very cognizant of that… I am the one who actually raised the matter and actually engaged the efforts to make sure that it is done properly,” Smith stated.

The disclosure came as BVIEC faced questions about its financial position and its claim that it had absorbed $49.8 million in fuel costs on behalf of customers since 2023.

BVIEC previously said it was facing financial strain from inflation, rising operational costs, and electricity rates that had remained unchanged for more than 25 years. Smith said in March that the corporation sometimes operated at a loss or barely covered its expenses.

Asked how the public could independently verify BVIEC’s fuel-cost figures without current audited accounts, Smith agreed that the statements provided the means for independent verification.

“So that is the way that the government, I mean, the public would be able to independently verify,” Smith stated.

He said professional accountants prepared the corporation’s accounts and had to follow established standards and processes.

Smith added that previous audits had not identified material differences between BVIEC’s reported figures and the auditors’ findings.