(1) Png Eng Huat and Low Thia Khiang declared that Hougang Town Council (HGTC) was always in the black. Not true.
Based on the TC’s own accounts, HGTC had operating deficits of $96,000 for 2008 and $102,000 for 2009 and $92,000 for 2010 (ending Mar 2011). Fact is they have been spending more than their income every year.
(2) Png Eng Huat and Low Thia Khiang said that Hougang had a surplus when it merged with Aljunied. Half-true-deliberately misleading.
(3) Low Thia Khiang declared that there was no need for Hougang to merge with Aljunied. Not True.
Any book-keeper or accountant will tell you that the financial state of the TC is determined at the end of each year when the income collected each month and expenses spent each month are totalled and squared. For instance, if you look at your own finances in a year, on the month you get your bonus, you probably have a surplus. But when you add up the expenses against your income for the months in the rest of the year, your bankbook and bills will tell you whether you are spending more than you earn or not and whether you have savings (surplus) or debt.
What Low and Png did was to carefully select a month (May 2011) at the start of the financial year (which starts on 1 Apr 2011) to create a false picture of a surplus when in fact their finances reflected a pattern of deficit in Hougang which began in 2008. But by merging the Hougang accounts with Aljunied, they ensured that this will be buried from public view.
The TC’s own auditors, Kelvin Wong & Co, on Mar 2011 stated that there is uncertainty over the adequacy of operating funds and that the HGTC’s so called surplus is just a snapshot and is not a good reflection of the TC’s finances because bonuses, property tax, GST expenses, etc were included in the financial report. In short, he is saying to Hougang TC that you are rich on payday, but actually you are in debt because you have not settled all your bills and still spending more than you earn.
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