The head of the civil service has backed the Finance Ministry's call for on-time audits.

Deputy Governor Gloria McField-Nixon, in a response sent to The Caymanian Journal (TCJ) on 3 November 2026, said that "just as entities must continue to prioritise timely, accurate financial reporting, I believe it is important that this is matched by timely completion of audits so that we can continue improving the quality and timeliness of Government's financial reporting."

Her reply follows a statement issued by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development (MFED) on 30 October 2026, four days after Auditor General Patrick Smith published his General Report on the 2025 financial audits. The Ministry said 42 of the 48 public bodies filed their accounts by the statutory deadline of 28 February 2026, "however, the OAG completed only 35 of those 42 audits by its statutory deadline of 30 April 2026." It said: "While recognising that audit delays can arise for various reasons, MFED emphasises that timely submission of financial statements must be matched by timely completion of audits. Both reporting entities and the OAG have important statutory responsibilities in ensuring financial information reaches Parliament and the public promptly."

The Ministry's statement was headed by the news that all 17 ministries, portfolios and offices whose 2025 audits had been finished received clean opinions.

Why an audit matters to the reader

Every ministry, portfolio, statutory authority and government company must produce a set of accounts each year showing what it took in, what it spent and what it owns and owes. The Auditor General's job is to check those accounts and say whether they can be trusted. His report, published on 26 October 2026, described the accounts and annual reports as "essential documents that enable Parliament and the residents of the Cayman Islands to hold the Government and individual public bodies accountable for their use of public money."

The sums involved are large. Through the 37 audits it had completed by 10 September 2026, the report said, the Auditor General's office checked about CI$1.9 billion of the CI$4.1 billion of transactions recorded by government in 2025, including CI$981 million of revenue and CI$948 million of spending. The 11 audits still outstanding cover an estimated CI$350 million of revenue and CI$363 million of spending that nobody outside those bodies has yet verified.

A clean, or unqualified, opinion means the auditor found the accounts gave a fair picture. A qualified opinion means part of the accounts could not be relied on. An adverse opinion means the accounts as a whole could not be relied on. A disclaimer of opinion means the auditor could not form a view at all. The report warned against reading a clean opinion as a clean bill of health. It said: "Healthy surpluses and unqualified opinions do not, by themselves, show strong financial management."

The audit is one link in a chain. Under the Public Management and Finance Act, each public body sends its accounts to the Auditor General, who audits them. The audited annual report then goes to Cabinet, and the responsible minister lays it before Parliament, where the Public Accounts Committee can examine it. The report said: "Accountability depends on every step of the reporting chain working on time. The chain is weakest at its final steps."

The Auditor General also sends each ministry a separate report on the weaknesses found during its audit, and presents those reports to the Government's Audit and Risk Assurance Committee, which the report said "provides the Deputy Governor with independent, objective advice on governance, risk management, internal control, financial management, reporting, and internal audit for the core government." That is where the Deputy Governor comes in: the chief officers and chief financial officers who prepare the accounts report through her.

What "on time" means

The report set out the deadlines both sides are measured against. The Public Management and Finance Act gives public bodies two months after the 31 December year end to submit their accounts, so by 28 February. The Auditor General then has two months to audit them, so by 30 April. Annual reports must reach Cabinet within five months, by 31 May, and the report said the Act and international accounting standards require accounts to be published within six months of year end.

The report said the reason the deadlines exist is that "financial statements are only useful if users can access them within a reasonable time frame." It said late audits delay "the information Parliament needs to hold public bodies to account" and reduce "the value of our findings to the managers who could act on them."

Where 2025 stood

Both sides agree on the numbers. Of 48 public bodies, 42 filed their accounts on time. Six did not, and the report said they were "between 3 and 31 days late". The Auditor General's office and the three private firms it contracts, Baker Tilly, Grant Thornton and KPMG, completed 35 audits by 30 April 2026 and two more by 10 September 2026, leaving 11 outstanding. Seven of those were in progress. Four, covering the Cayman Islands Airports Authority, the former Ministry of Health and Wellness, the Ministry of Health, Environment and Sustainability and the National Housing Development Trust, had not started because earlier years' audits were still open.

The Ministry measured the Auditor General against the 42 bodies that filed on time. The report measured against all 48, and said 73% of 2025 audits were completed by the deadline, down from 78% the year before. Counting older years as well, the report said 20 audits were backlogged at 10 September 2026, the same number as a year earlier, even though the Auditor General's office had cleared 12 old audits in the previous 12 months.

Annual reports, which carry the accounts to Cabinet and Parliament, fared worse than the accounts themselves. The report said 32 of 48 public bodies submitted their annual reports by the deadline, down from 38 in 2024, and only four reached Cabinet by 31 May 2026.

Why audits run late

The report gave several reasons for late audits, and none of them was a single cause.

Some accounts arrive late, which pushes the audit back. Some arrive on time but need heavy correction. Public bodies made 315 adjustments worth CI$172.5 million to their 2025 accounts after submitting them for audit, up from CI$150 million in 2024. Leaving aside the pension and healthcare revaluations, the report said that came to 294 adjustments worth CI$117.4 million, an average of nine corrections worth CI$3.8 million for each of the 31 bodies that needed them. The report said that in the old audits it cleared this year "the supporting schedules and financial records did not accurately reflect the balances, leading to repeated revisions and rework by my staff."

The Government's reorganisation on 1 July 2025, after the April general election, created two ministries and closed four. The report said chief financial officers of the closed and new ministries "could not agree on the transferred balances, and my staff could not complete their work until those disagreements were settled." After the former Ministry of Sustainability and Climate Resiliency was dissolved, the report said, "no one is clearly responsible for finalising" its accounts, and that audit "remains unfinished 12 months later." The audit of the new Ministry of District Administration and Homeland Affairs did not begin until February 2026 because, the report said, "the ministry asked us to delay the start." The former Ministry of Health and Wellness has not had a clean audit since 2020, and its unfinished years have held up its successor's.

Pension and healthcare valuations arrive after accounts are filed. The report said this led to CI$55.1 million of the adjustments, that it expects public bodies to build those figures in before they submit, and that "some of the causes are easy to fix."

Repeat findings take up audit time too. The report said 73 of its 165 significant findings had been raised in earlier years, that management had accepted each one and agreed a date to fix it, and that the weaknesses remained. It said this "means my staff spend audit time on matters that should have been resolved, rather than on new risks."

The Ministry said the corrections "do not represent a loss of public funds" and described the Auditor General's emphasis on them as "unusual", "given that identifying and resolving adjustments is a normal part of the audit process." The report, at paragraph 96, said: "Taken together, the adjustments are not minor corrections. Some public bodies reported financial performance and positions during the year that differed materially from the audited outcomes."

Roy McTaggart MP, chair of Parliament's Public Accounts Committee, in a response sent to TCJ through Parliament's media office on 4 November 2026, said: "While differences in interpretation may arise, the Committee recognises the importance of constructive engagement and respect for the independence of the Auditor General." He said the adjustments, while not necessarily a loss of public funds, showed where financial reporting could be strengthened, and that "the quality of financial information submitted for audit remains equally important."

What is being done

The Auditor General's office said it issued disclaimers of opinion on the former Ministry of Health and Wellness accounts for 2020 to 2023, meaning it could not form a view on them, which "allowed us to complete audits of more recent periods on time", and that it will run compliance audits on those years instead.

The Ministry said it provides twice-yearly training for government finance staff, acknowledges "the areas requiring improvement, including internal controls, procurement compliance and the quality of financial reporting", and will keep working with public bodies and the Auditor General on recurring findings.

TCJ asked the Deputy Governor what she would require of chief officers and chief financial officers on the 73 repeat findings. She said: "The 2025 audit results demonstrate important progress across the Civil Service, and our focus going forward will be on building on that progress. I expect Chief Officers and Chief Financial Officers to continue working with the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development to address outstanding and repeat findings, strengthen internal controls and ensure agreed actions are followed through." Her reply did not set a deadline or a consequence for findings repeated again in 2027.

What is still unresolved

The Ministry's statement did not refer to the Entire Public Sector financial statements, the consolidated accounts for the whole of government. The report said those "remain unreliable and have received adverse opinions for the last 10 years", covering the financial years 2013-14 to 2023. It said they omit about CI$2.6 billion of post-retirement healthcare liabilities, "which would all but wipe out the reported EPS net worth of [CI]$2.6 billion", carry CI$412 million of road valuations that are unsupported, and include more than CI$1 billion of revenue, about 71% of the total, on which management cannot give assurance.

The report said the Ministry shared a corrective action plan with the Auditor General in May 2026 but "progress has been limited", and that the two largest problems have no target date. Smith said: "I urge the Ministry of Finance to set clear dates for producing reliable EPS financial statements." TCJ asked the Ministry on 30 October 2026 whether it will set those dates. The Ministry replied the same day that it had "no further comment on these matters at this time" and referred TCJ to its statement. TCJ also asked whether the Minister for Finance, Rolston Anglin MP, wished to comment in his own name. The Ministry's reply did not address that question.

The report also said that by 10 September 2026 only 19 of the 2025 annual reports had been laid before Parliament and that 33 annual reports covering 2020 to 2025 remained untabled. Asked where responsibility for that lies, McTaggart said it "rests with the respective public bodies and relevant authorities, in accordance with their statutory obligations", and that "delays at any stage of the reporting process can undermine the effectiveness of parliamentary oversight."

The Public Accounts Committee held a two-day hearing on the previous year's report in January 2026. Asked whether it will hold one on this report, McTaggart said the Committee "will consider the report and determine the appropriate course of action", and that if it decides to convene a public hearing "relevant details will be communicated in due course."

TCJ emailed the Auditor General on 30 October 2026 for his response to the Ministry's statement, and the same day emailed Christopher Saunders MP, a former Minister for Finance and a member of the Public Accounts Committee, and the Cayman Islands Institute of Professional Accountants. None had replied by the time of publication.