BTO under fire for public funds accounting failure

Pauline Dikuelo | Thursday June 12, 2025 10:39

According to the Auditor General’s report for the year ended March 31, 2022, the BTO has not submitted its annual financial statements and management letters for the financial years 2018/2019, 2019/2020, 2020/2021, and 2021/2022. This long-standing non-compliance has raised serious concerns about the organisation’s adherence to financial accountability and transparency standards, particularly its repeated breach of Section 22 of the Act. The Act requires BTO’s accounts to be audited within three months after the end of each financial year.

“I have commented in my previous reports that the BTO was in breach of Section 22, which required the accounts of the organisation to be audited within three months after the end of the financial year,” stated the Auditor General’s report. The BTO attributed the delays in completing the 2018/2019 audit to the findings of a forensic report. Despite the explanation, the situation is still worrisome, especially considering the continued absence of financial reports for subsequent years. In 2021, the BTO appeared before the parliamentary oversight body, Public Accounts Committee and submitted unaudited financial statements for the year ending March 31, 2020, contrary to Parliament's request for audited reports. At the time, the BTO attributed the delay to the auditors' need to review the organisation's forensic audit report and assess its impact on the previous audit cycle. The forensic audit conducted a few years ago took a significant amount of time to complete. According to audit findings, the auditors were unable to obtain appropriate and sufficient evidence to verify the accuracy and completeness of revenue from the sale of goods and services disclosed in the accounts. As a consequence, the auditors could not determine whether adjustments were needed to the consolidated financial statements concerning this revenue.

The persistent non-compliance has also meant that the National Assembly has been denied the opportunity to scrutinise the organisation's financial operations on time, undermining the principles of public sector accountability. “This non-compliance continued to deny the National Assembly the opportunity to examine the accounts of the organisation on a timely basis to meet the need for transparency and accountability,” the report emphasised. Compounding public the concern is BTO’s active and costly calendar of events and outward promotional campaigns, which are core to its mandate. The organisation is known for hosting events and running international marketing campaigns intended to attract visitors to Botswana.

However, in the absence of audited financial statements, the public and stakeholders are unable to assess the value and impact of these initiatives. Without proper audited financials, it becomes increasingly difficult for both the public and oversight institutions to gauge the efficiency, impact, and stewardship of the public funds by the BTO. Amid these governance concerns, earlier this year, the BTO reported that Botswana made P207 million between 2021 and 2024 from the Meetings Incentives Conferences Exhibitions (MICE). It was revealed that the organisation has been tasked with curating a MICE strategy for Botswana’s tourism industry. The strategy seeks to further capitalize on the growing opportunities within the MICE tourism segment.