I have enough problems of my own to deal with

Just going about my daily routine, living a life of a typical retiree, I come across many problems which I need to sort out. While some may accept whatever that comes along and rather not pursue the matter, I feel it necessary to find the reasons why it happened, how it happened, and hopefully find a solution so that in future the problem will not recur.

Yesterday, our part-time cleaner asked me to find out why her current water bill (Lembaga Air Perak) shows arrears when she had paid it at Telekom.

My first thought was the 7-day grace to pay the water bill and it could be because she did not pay in time. But water usage is billed every two months so whatever slow accounting and/or transfer from Telekom to LAP would have been sorted out.

First, I went to LAP and asked the cashier to check their computer record and she confirmed what was stated in the current bill, ie. no payment in November and last payment was in September.

Then, I went over to Telekom to enquire, and without the previous paid bill, I looked stupid even asking for information. Anyway, the man confirmed that usually all monies collected are remitted within 3 days and they do not keep the bill counterfoils which are returned to LAP.

This morning, our friend was happy to show me the paid bill which she had found, and I am glad for her because I have something to work on. It showed Rm17.85 paid in cash to Telekom.

Right now, I am making a guess before I go back to Telekom which I think is where the problem lies. No, I have nothing against them.

Where cash is concerned, there is always the possibility of theft: by cashier or whoever is in charge after the cashier before the money is remitted to the rightful party, in this case, LAP. Or to be kind, I should consider it as a mistake and the possibility that a counterfoil went missing and therefore LAP could not credit the account concerned. This could also have happened at LAP, and I am about to find out more.

An auditor would say that even a small amount is significant if it involved weaknesses in the system of internal control.
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