WILLEMSTAD — Structural shortcomings at the government-owned foundation SOAB (Government’s Accountants Bureau) continue to hamper Curaçao’s efforts to bring its public finances in line with legal and accountability standards, according to the General Audit Chamber’s review of the 2023 national accounts.
In its report, the Audit Chamber points to SOAB’s central role in supporting ministries with financial administration, policy execution, and project implementation. Despite that role, longstanding capacity constraints and organizational weaknesses at SOAB are cited as contributing factors to recurring problems in financial management, including missing documentation, delayed reporting, and insufficient substantiation of expenditures.
The Audit Chamber notes that several ministries rely heavily on SOAB for financial processes and advisory tasks. When SOAB lacks sufficient staffing, up-to-date systems, or clear mandates, the effects are felt across government, particularly in areas such as contract management, project oversight, and the timely preparation of legally compliant financial records.
According to the report, these weaknesses have indirect but significant consequences for the legality and reliability of the national accounts. In multiple cases reviewed by the Audit Chamber, required documentation—such as contracts, agreements, and supporting financial records—was incomplete or unavailable, making it impossible to fully verify whether expenditures complied with applicable laws and regulations.
The Audit Chamber stresses that improving public financial management is not solely the responsibility of individual ministries, but also depends on the effective functioning of supporting institutions such as SOAB. Without a structurally strong and adequately resourced SOAB, the government’s ambition to achieve a clean audit opinion remains at risk.
The findings come in the context of broader reform commitments, including the Roadmap toward a clean audit opinion by 2026 and the financial governance reforms under the Landspakket agreements. The Audit Chamber warns that delays in strengthening key support organizations undermine these reform trajectories.
In its conclusions, the Audit Chamber urges the government to take concrete measures to reinforce SOAB’s capacity and clarify its role within the public administration. This includes addressing staffing shortages, strengthening internal controls, and ensuring that SOAB’s advisory and execution tasks are properly aligned with the legal requirements for public finance management.
Without such improvements, the Audit Chamber cautions, Curaçao risks continuing a cycle in which weaknesses at central support institutions translate into repeated legality issues in the national accounts, limiting Parliament’s ability to exercise effective oversight and delaying much-needed progress toward financial stability.