Four-Year Wait for Puerto Rico's Financials Rankles Overseers

(Bloomberg) -- Puerto Rico's most-recent audited financial statements are almost four years old, casting doubt over just how broke the bankrupt island is as creditors fight over its cash and residents protest proposed austerity measures in the streets.

The U.S. territory's federal oversight board signaled it's tired of waiting.

The panel is asking Puerto Rico to provide by May 7 a timetable for when it plans to make public the audited financial statements for fiscal years 2015 through 2017, according to a letter from the panel to Gerardo Portela, the executive director of the commonwealth's fiscal agency, that was posted Wednesday on the board's website.

While states and cities typically don't release their annual financials until 200 calendar days after the end of a fiscal year, Puerto Rico's delay stands out even in a market not known for speedy disclosures. And that has left a major hole: The missing, audited reports cover the period when Puerto Rico's financial crisis worsened, culminating in the government's record-setting bankruptcy last year.

To contact the reporter on this story: Michelle Kaske in New York at mkaske@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: James Crombie at jcrombie8@bloomberg.net, William Selway, Michael B. Marois

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