KUCHING (Aug 23): Cooperatives are reminded to audit their accounts, in line with the provisions under Section 60 of the Cooperative Societies Act 1993.

Deputy Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives Minister Saraswathy Kandasami said that failure to comply with this requirement would result in cooperatives losing eligibility for the facilities available under the Malaysia Cooperative Societies Commission (SKM).

She added that one of the main reasons why cooperatives fail to prepare financial statements for auditing was the lack of exposure to bookkeeping.

“We find that most cooperatives that do not carry out audits are small and micro cooperatives. We understand that most of them are facing problems after the Covid-19 pandemic, which has affected their businesses.

“Therefore, we take various approaches to provide assistance to help them recover,” she told reporters after the briefing on Cooperative Financial Statement Reporting Guidelines (Amendment) 2020 here on Wednesday (Aug 23).

As of Dec 31 last year, there were 15,315 cooperatives registered under SKM, with a total membership of 7.3 million people, Saraswathy said.

“In Sarawak, there are 1,159 registered cooperatives, with over 310,000 members.

“These statistics prove that the cooperatives in Sarawak have successfully increased the people’s confidence in their roles and significance in helping the government deal with the rising cost of living,” she said.