BY NOKUTHABA DLAMINI
The Office of the Auditor -General’s (OAG) report on Lupane State University’s financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2022, reveals significant concerns. The report states that the University’s financial statements are incomplete, inaccurate, and do not reflect the true financial position of the institution.
One of the main concerns tabled before the parliament is the University’s academic fees income. “Academic fees comprise a significant part of income generated by the University from its operations,” the report notes.
However, the auditor general was not provided with all the supporting documents for the academic fees income recognized. “I was unable to perform alternative audit procedures to satisfy myself on the completeness, accuracy, and occurrence of academic fees income amount during the audit,” the report states.
“The University could not provide accurate and complete student statistics to evaluate recalculation of academic fees using numbers of active students and the authorised tuition fees for each program per semester, to assess if the academic fees income amount of ZWL$ 2.4 billion presented in the financial statements was accurate.”
The report also highlights issues with trade receivables. “In the absence of sufficient audit evidence, the University’s records did not permit the application of alternative procedures and therefore no assurance could be obtained that the student receivables had actually existed and were accurately recorded,” the OAG writes.
Furthermore, the report notes that the University’s property, plant, and equipment valuation does not meet the fair value criteria as per International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) 13. “The revaluation was performed in USD and translated to ZWL using the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) interbank rate for financial reporting purposes. This did not meet the fair value criteria as provided for in International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) 13 – Fair Value Measurement,” the report states.
Governance issues are also a concern. “The University did not have lease agreements on the buildings leased to the University by a commercial bank,” the report notes. “This was attributable to inadequate due diligence and maintenance of the University filing system.”
In addition, the report highlights procurement issues. “The University made advance payment amounting to ZWL$22.6 million to a supplier for the purchase of heifers in May 2022. However, the heifers had not been delivered as at December 31, 2022,” the OAG writes.
Overall, the report raises significant concerns about the reliability and accuracy of Lupane State University’s financial statements. As the auditor general states, “I was unable to obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence to provide a basis for an audit opinion on these financial statements.”