The Auditor General’s latest report on MHA and Minister expenses found that policies and procedures for Members of the House of Assembly were updated reactively, rather than proactively, and some policies and procedures failed to prevent errors from occurring.

It also found non-compliance with expense policies, including problems in reporting, and internal controls, as well as the misallocation of expenses between the House of Assembly and departments.

Denise Hanrahan found that published Member expense reports failed to capture $236,000 in expenditures due to deficiencies in the reporting process.

In ten of 36 samples (or 28 per cent) the payroll controls and processes did not operate appropriately.

Two ministers surpassed the 48 round-trip limit in the 2022 fiscal year, resulting in overcompensation of $8,808. One of those ministers surpassed the 48 round-trip limit again in 2023, resulting in $8,374 in overcompensation.

The AG says the issue appears to be one of the controls in place and her office did not find any indication of an intention to defraud.