The Commission on Audit issued transition guidelines making clarifications on settlement of
accounts through COA Memorandum No. 2009-17 on May 6, 2009.
The Memorandum delineated the authority of COA officials in the issuance and
evaluation of Audit Observation Memorandum (AOM), Notice of Disallowance (ND),
Notice of Charge (NC), Notice of Suspension (NS) and other action on request for
reconsideration and appeal following the 2008 COA Organizational Restructuring
which abolished the Legal and Adjudication Offices and transferred their
adjudication function to the Audit Cluster and Regional Offices.
Under the new rules, the Audit Team Leader (ATL) and the Supervising Auditor
(SA)/Audit Group Head (AGH) shall have the responsibility of preparation,
review, approval and issuance of AOM, ND, NC and NS, as well as evaluation of
AOM.
The Memorandum also calls for AOMs pending with the then Legal and
Adjudication Sector (LAS) as of December 2, 2008 will be returned to the ATL/SA/AGH
for evaluation and issuance of the ND/NC, if warranted.
Likewise, an NS which is more than 90 days old from the date receipt and
which has not been complied with/addressed shall be evaluated by the SA/AGH for
the issuance of ND/NC, if warranted.
In terms of appeal from an ND or NC, the level of decision-making shall be on
the Cluster Director (CD) or Regional Director (RD) for ND/NC issued by the ATL
and SA/AGH; the RD for ND/NC issued by the then Regional Cluster Director (RCD),
LAS; and the Adjudication and Settlement Board (ASB) or the Commission Proper
(CP) for ND/NC issued by the Director of the then LAO.
On the other hand, a request for reconsideration of an ND or NC issued by the
ATL/SA/AGH shall be acted upon by the ATL and SA/AGH having jurisdiction over
the agency audited. Also, request for reconsideration of an ND/NC issued by the
RCD of the then LAS shall be acted upon by the SA/AGH which has jurisdiction
over the agency audited.
A request for reconsideration of an ND/NC issued by the then LAO Director
shall now be acted upon by the Ad-hoc Committee created under COA Office Order
No. 2009-023 if filed within the reglementary period of 15 days from the receipt
of the ND/NC/NS by the aggrieved party.
Finally, the ASB or CP shall act upon requests for reconsideration of an
ND/NC issued by the then LAO Director if filed beyond the 15 day reglementary
period.
