FBC owes $148,401 license fees by end of 2019

Broadcast license fees owed by the Fijian Broadcasting Corporation at the end of the 2019 financial year amounted to $148,401.

This was highlighted in the Auditor General’s Report, which was tabled in Parliament last week.

In 2018, the figure stood at $121,516. An audit review of broadcast licence fee accrual noted that long outstanding accruals dated back to 2014, with no subsequent payment or reversal.

The report recommended that management review the accrual and determine whether it was appropriate to continue to record the accrual as a liability.

The broadcast license fees was owed to Telecommunications Authority of Fiji and since 2013, the company had recorded an accrual of $20,505 per annum based on the initial licensing agreement.

The company confirmed that outstanding licence fees would be paid.

The financial report noted the declaration by the World Health Organisation for the global pandemic subsequent to the end of December last year and how it was considered by the company directors in the preparation of the financial report. The report states that no adjustments have been made by the company to financial statements as at December 31, 2019 for the impacts of COVID-19.

Further, grants and/or special funding from Government up to March 7, 2016 were treated as capital contribution in accordance with Cabinet’s decision in 2012, and from March 8, 2016, were treated as revenue based on the Cabinet’s decision in 2016 to align the accounting treatment to international financial reporting standards.