Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Thursday, 18 October 2018
Public Accounts Committee
2016 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 6 - Vote Accounting and Budget Management
Vote 11 - Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 2 - Collection of Pension Contributions due to the Exchequer
Chapter 3 - Control of Funding for Voted Public Services
Chapter 5 - Vote Accounting and Budget Management
Vote 11 - Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Comptroller and Auditor General Special Report 95: Financial Reporting in the Public Sector
Comptroller and Auditor General Special Report 99: Public Sector Financial Reporting for 2015
Comptroller and Auditor General Special Report 100: Public Sector Financial Reporting for 2016
9:00 am
Mr. Seamus McCarthy:
There are quite significant variations. Let me give an example from the Office of Public Works, which came before the committee last week to discuss its Vote. The OPW has four different bases of accounting for land and buildings. There is valuation, there is a question of revaluation, there is carrying them at historic cost and so on. Wherever an organisation has capital assets, in particular buildings, on its statement of financial position, it is left to each Accounting Officer to determine how the building will be valued. There is no single view by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform on this matter. It probably reflects historical developments and the very considerable diversity in the nature of the assets, such as courthouses, schools, prisons, office buildings, heritage properties and so on. It is complicated and it will take a piece of work to get an acceptable and consistent framework.