National College of Art and Design criticised by spending watchdog

The National College of Art and Design has been criticised by the public spending watchdog for delays in preparing annual accounts and failure to comply with procurement guidelines.

The report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) said senior management at the college had “allowed a situation to develop” whereby the “basic requirement” of the preparation and audit of financial statements is “effectively not being met”.

The most recent audited financial statements for the college relate to the year ended September 30th, 2010. Following the audit, these were certified on December 21st, 2012.

The report notes the current situation exists despite a separate report by the C&AG in 2012 which drew attention to delays in completion of auditing of college financial statements for the financial years ending in 2009 and 2010.

The college failed to comply with procurement guidelines in 2009, 2010 and 2011.

A review of the effectiveness of the system of internal financial control was not performed by the college’s board in any of the five accounting years ending September 2012.

The college, which received more than €100 million in State funding in the eight years ended December 31st, 2013, said it agreed with the report’s recommendations that it eliminate delays and address inefficiencies.