COA to Ombudsman employees: Do better math

MANILA, Philippines - State auditors gave employees of the Human Resources Management Division (HRMD) of the Office of the Ombudsman a slap on the wrist for computation errors in the monetization of leave credits in 2011.

An audit report released only recently practically advised concerned officials and employees to do better math in computing the monetary equivalent of unused vacation leaves.

The Commission on Audit (COA) even advised the HRMD to attend appropriate seminars given by the Civil Service Commission (CSC).

State auditors explained that in 2011, they found “errors committed in the addition and subtraction of leave credits, erroneous forwarding of leave balances, and erroneous computation of undertime.”

The audit team said there was also incomplete or non-deduction of five days mandatory leave of absence and failure to effect and or add 1.25 as leave credits earned for the month for vacation and sick leaves.

“Review of entries in the leave cards was also performed by HRMD personnel; however, it failed to achieve the correct balances since the examination did not start from the initial month of the service of the employees in the office and was not in compliance with pertinent CSC leave rules and  regulations,” the COA report stated.

“Vacation and sick leave credits and the accumulation thereof involve monetary value. Thus, careful examination is required of personnel who are assigned to compute entries in the leave cards,” the audit team stressed.

COA said (HRMD) personnel assigned in the Leave and Payroll Section of the Office of the Ombudsman should re-compute the employee leave cards to ensure correct balances of vacation and sick leaves, taking into consideration the various leave laws, rules and regulations.

“We also recommended that management ensure that computation of leave balances are updated and thoroughly reviewed prior to approval of monetization of leave credits and terminal leave benefits,” state auditors said.