Galway Bay FM Newsroom – An internal audit has criticised a number of financial practices at Galway City Partnership.
The investigation by Crowleys DFK accountants found the anti-poverty group made payments to contractors without receiving invoices, breached public procurement rules and did not regularly maintain accounting ledgers.
The Irish Times is reporting that auditors found Galway City Partnership’s accounting system 'may not be fit for purpose' and identified several weaknesses, which it said risked exposing the organisation to financial loss.
The audit, which was completed in February 2020, found the company’s general accounting ledgers were 'not maintained on an ongoing basis', and discrepancies between spending and allocated budgets were not tracked, it said.
One supplier had been providing services to the company for a number of years, 'bypassing procurement procedures', the audit said.
The investigation also criticised instances where payments were made without invoices being received.
In response, Galway City Partnership told the auditors the payments 'were part of a research contract and as such no invoices were received'.
The report identified five high-risk weaknesses and concluded assurances that could be placed on the company’s financial controls were limited.
Declan Brassil, Galway City Partnership chief executive, said it had agreed a number of actions following the audit, which were now in place.
