'Poor internal controls at BPL' - Auditor

MQONDISI DUBE
Staff Writer | Monday November 15, 2010 00:00

Premier League Committee treasurer, Tayani Chankuluba told the BPL assembly in Palapye on Saturday that auditors had highlighted some glaring shortcomings in the organisation's handling of its finances.

The auditors expressed concern with contracts that the Premier League enters with third parties, which they said were not clear.

It cited the contract that the BPL has with a consultant, Pula Sports Marketing and said the consultancy fee payable was not correctly calculated and provided for. The treasurer indicated that the current committee had addressed some shortcomings cited  in the report, which was compiled during the previous committee's tenure.

The 2009-2010 financial report is being compiled.

Chankuluba said as a result of lack of a proper asset register and poor internal controls, the auditors could not provide a qualified opinion on last year's report.

'There is no proper internal control in place because... most of the payment vouchers are not available and cash received did not always match with cash deposited. We could therefore not obtain sufficient audit evidence to satisfy ourselves as to the completeness of income and expenses,' the auditors noted in the financial statement.

He further said the major concern raised by the auditors was that there is a contract between the Botswana Football Association (BFA) and the Botswana Telecommunications Corporation (BTC) regarding the be MOBILE Premier League sponsorship.

The BPL is not an autonomous body and therefore all contracts are third party, signed by the BFA president. The BPL is an organ of the BFA and therefore is liable to the mother body.

'The income from sell of BFA rights attracts Value Added Tax (VAT) but because we (BPL)   are not independent, all income to the BFA attracts VAT. Liabilities to the BFA are effectively liabilities to the BPL,' Chankuluba said. He said the consultant has not been paid as the BPL was told that it was not supposed to enter into an agreement which should have been done by the BFA.

The auditors recommended the hiring of a second financial officer who will assist with the checking   of finances.

'They argued it's not prudent to have one financial officer, we need at least two. There were questions as well as to who owns the games between the BPL and the clubs,' Chankuluba said.

The financial report was prepared during the previous committee's tenure and Chankuluba said they had addressed some of the shortcomings.

The payment of referees' allowance is now coordinated and done through the office as opposed to the previous system where no receipts were issued for their payment. Delegates were unanimous that there is need to revisit governance standards and improve internal controls.

'We need to revisit our governance standards not just our financial policies, and we need to come up with internal controls,' Mochudi Centre Chiefs' official, Tom Mongale, suggested.

Police XI's  More Gondo said it was apparent from the financial statement that the BPL was failing to manage its finances. He blamed the situation on the BPL reliance on BFA and like the majority of the delegates, called for autonomy.

'It is a scary report,' said Dennis Keagile of Mochudi Centre Chiefs.

Delegates took a dig at auditing firm, KPMG, which acts as an advisor to the BPL. KPMG is supposed to ensure that the office is run in accordance with established standards and also assist in the assessment of office procedures and advise on necessary changes. 'The fact that (BPL) contracts are with [a] third party is unfortunate.

We expected KPMG to advise us accordingly. They should have been the first people to point out any anomaly,' Chankuluba said.

Victor Sebolao from Santos wondered what KPMG had done to ensure financial normalcy at the Premier League.

'What was KPMG doing since it is clear the BPL does not keep records?' he asked.

Some delegates felt the report had the potential to scare away new sponsors. The meeting agreed to call a special general assembly once the latest financial report is available.