Thank you, Madam Chair. I move that the Government of the Northwest Territories monitor its loans receivable and develop targets and measures to improve collections, with a view to reducing the allowance for doubtful accounts to less than 30 percent. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Moses. The motion is in order. To the motion. Mr. Moses.
Thank you, Madam Chair. The allowance for doubtful accounts is an estimate of the amount of accounts receivable upon which the GNWT does not expect to collect. In 2012-2013 allowance was about 41.4 percent of total loans receivable. In 2011-12 it was about 38.45 percent of the total loans receivable. The year prior it was approximately 30 percent.
The committee sees that this is a concern with the incremental increases over the years and wants to try to address that before next year gets a little bit higher. We want to make sure this government does the right thing in terms of monitoring it and setting targets and measures to improve these collections and do it sooner than later. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Moses. To the motion. Mr. Dolynny.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I think Member Moses summarized it quite eloquently. I just need a few points to add to this motion.
What we’re referring to in this motion is hopefully setting up more of a target base approach for loans receivable. If we look at the history of this government, we were collecting literally at one point in time I call it 70-cent dollars, and that number has dwindled from 2011 to 2013 to about 60-cent dollars on our doubtful loans. This is a bit problematic. Losing 10 cents on the dollar really, in essence, will be significant in the long run.
Good accounting principles, public accounting principles clearly state that targets should be achieved within this type of framework, and I believe this motion speaks to good accounting practices. So I’m hoping that this motion does echo that and we’re hoping that this motion does reflect for future public accounts that the government of the day will set the appropriate targets for loans receivable. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. To the motion.
Question.
Question is being called. The motion is carried.
---Carried
Mr. Nadli.
