DOA: Guam Department of Education data delays push governmentwide audit into November 2025

The Department of Administration told the Guam Legislature's Committee on Finance and Government Operations on June 19 that delays in financial reporting from the Guam Department of Education are the primary reason the government'wide financial audit timeline has slipped.

Director Edward Byrne said completion of the 2023 audit was "majorly impacted by the GDOE audit completion," and that ongoing reporting delays at GDOE have pushed the expected finish for the 2024 audit into November 2025. Byrne added that several semi-autonomous entities that are part of the general fund''including the legislature, the judiciary and the public defender''contribute to timing uncertainty, but that GDOE has the largest effect.

Why it matters: the government's annual audit is the official accounting of the general fund and underpins budget forecasting, bond ratings and federal compliance work. Byrne and committee members said the missing or late data makes it difficult to forecast general fund balances and complicates federal grant reporting and reconciliation.

Byrne told the committee the Department of Administration (DOA) and the Office of Public Auditor have pressed GDOE for timely information. "It's almost impossible for us to forecast what the balance of the general fund will be without good information and good information is not flowing from DOE," Byrne said. Chairman Christopher Duenas said the Office of Public Auditor had expressed "exasperation" at the recurring problems.

Committee members discussed possible management interventions. Byrne said he had discussed the idea of DOA taking a larger role in accounting for GDOE and planned to meet with the governor's legal counsel to explore whether DOA could assume that burden quickly.

Committee members and DOA officials stressed that the underlying problem appears to be financial management and reconciliation at GDOE, not simply a shortfall in cash. Byrne and the chair noted that heightened oversight in the past prompted recovery of funds in one instance: "the oversight on the issue of the money they lost on the 27,000,000... prompted their ability to at least recover that 9,000,000," Duenas said.

The committee record shows DOA will continue to press agencies for timely responses; no formal policy change or vote was taken at the hearing.

Looking ahead: DOA reiterated the revised timeline that the 2024 governmentwide audit is not expected to be complete until November 2025 unless GDOE and the other reporting entities supply reconciled trial balances and supporting documentation earlier. The committee will continue to accept written testimony on the fiscal year appropriations bill referenced during the hearing.