CARIBBEAN Airlines has finally submitted its audited financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2016, nearly nine years after the financial period closed.
The independent audit by KPMG Chartered Accountants, completed in April 2025, resulted in a qualified opinion after the auditors were unable to fully verify the accuracy of several key financial items reported by the airline for that year, in part due to the prolonged duration of the audit.
For the year ended December 31, 2016, Caribbean Airlines reported an accumulated deficit of $2.175 billion, following a total comprehensive loss of $695.4 million for the period.
That loss represented a 543% increase from the total comprehensive loss of $108.1 million recorded for the year ended December 31, 2015.
The State-owned carrier still has eight sets of audited financial statements outstanding, covering the years 2017 to 2024.
Finance Minister Davendranath Tancoo laid Caribbean Airlines’ Consolidated Audited Financial Statements for the financial year ended December 31, 2016 during Monday’s sitting of the House of Representatives, before delivering the national budget.
According to the audit by KPMG, Caribbean Airlines listed $137 million in inventory, but the auditors said they could not confirm whether this figure was accurate due to missing documentation and incomplete records.
“Due to the length of time the audit has been ongoing, sufficient and appropriate audit evidence to support the accuracy of the carrying amounts is not available. We were also not provided with a subledger that has been valued appropriately as at December 31, 2016,” it stated.
“As a result, we were unable to satisfy ourselves by alternative means the carrying amount of the inventory recorded at December 31, 2016. In addition to these reasons, we were not provided with an inventory subledger that was complete, and we were unable to satisfy ourselves by alternative means the carrying amount of the inventory presented at December 31, 2015, and January 1, 2015,” KPMG stated.
KPMG said its audit opinion on the consolidated financial statements for the period ended December 31, 2015, dated February 3, 2020, was modified accordingly.
“Since opening and closing inventories impact the determination of the financial performance and cash flows, we were unable to determine whether any adjustments might have been necessary to the amounts shown in the Consolidated Statement of Financial Position and Consolidated Statement of Comprehensive Income as at and for the year ended December 31, 2016,” it stated.
KPMG also reported that the airline recorded $24 million in vacation leave owed to employees, but said they were unable to obtain sufficient evidence to confirm the validity of that liability.
“Consequently, we are unable to determine whether any adjustments to the vacation accrual is necessary. Management did not record an accrual for vacation leave for the year ended December 31, 2015. Our audit opinion on the consolidated financial statements for the period ended December 31, 2015, dated February 3, 2020, was modified accordingly,” KPMG stated.
“Since opening and closing accruals for vacation leave impacted the determination of the financial performance and cash flows, we were unable to determine whether any adjustments might have been necessary to the amounts shown in the Consolidated Statement of Financial Position and Consolidated Statement of Comprehensive Income as at and for the year ended December 31, 2016,” it stated.
KPMG also noted that lease arrangements for land and ground facilities may not have been fully disclosed, citing gaps in the airline’s compliance with international accounting disclosure standards.
“We were unable to obtain sufficient and appropriate audit evidence to determine the completeness and accuracy of required IAS 17 Leases disclosures relating to ground facilities, including land. We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (ISAs),” it stated.
“Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the Auditors’ Responsibilities for the Audit of the Consolidated Financial Statements section of our report. We are independent of the Group in accordance with the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants’ International Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants’ including International Independence Standards (IESBA Code) together with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the consolidated financial statements in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements and with the IESBA Code,” KPMG stated.
KPMG stated it believes that the audit evidence it obtained was “sufficient and appropriate” to provide a basis for its qualified opinion.
