BY BEN BILUA
SOLOMON Airlines is reported to be losing revenues on the domestic operation.
Auditor General’s Office 2016 report found that there is lack of control on sales by outer station travel agents.
Discussion with Airlines Management found that these agents gave unauthorised discounts on ticket sales as well as no sale tickets and that the issues had been identified by finance when reconciling the ticket sales.
“These differences (expenses) are charged to the agents but no action is taken to recover these balances,” the report stated.
In compiling their investigation the Auditor General Office notes that there is an increased risk of fraud in ticket sales from outer stations especially since no action is taken to recover the difference from the agents.
Two recommendations has been put forward to address that issue. One is Solomon Airlines Management should implement proper control around sales made by outer station travel agents and two, Solomon Airlines Management should also establish a strong debt recovery team to ensure billed amounts are recovered in a timely manner.
To address the issue, Management of Solomon Airlines had established an Agent Coordinator and Assistant Agent Coordinator/Cashier position but recruitments were done in May 2017 to ensure proper controls around sales were made by outer Stations.
Aged Debtors are now reviewed every Monday morning by Finance Leadership team prior to it being send to Management since May last year.
