WalesOnline - News - UK News - Former executive to get £750k from Wales’ public financial watchdog

WalesOnline - News - UK News - Former executive to get £750k from Wales’ public financial watchdog

Is Wales bankrupt?

Thank you for your reply. I wish to use two specific extracts from your response - because frankly, unless you correct my understanding of what you have said, I am astonished, and I believe others will be equally astonished.

These are the two extracts:

1) " ...we can confirm that the matter to which you refer is not something that we were aware of from our routine audit work at the National Park Authority."

2) "... we cannot investigate complaints about poor or inefficient management (known as ‘maladministration’) by audited organisations"

There can be nobody involved in the Audit profession who is unaware of its pivotal importance in the collapse of Companies such as Enron, Lehman Brothers, the near collapse of many of the UK Banks and the need for taxpayer bailout. There are any similar examples I could quote.

If what you are telling me is correct - then may I ask how anyone can determine whether Wales is bankrupt or not? I ask that question with all seriousness!

Under 1) above - you tell me that there are matters of which you are unaware. How many such matters exist and what are the financial liabilities (from whatsoever cause) that have not been taken into account in the statements of assets and liabilities (contingent or otherwise) that you have responsibility for?

Now you may well respond that you cannot quantify that for which you are unaware, but that form of response leads inexorably to item 2) - where you accept that there may be matters which may or do accrue actual or potential liabilities - which when they are brought to your direct attention you then choose to ignore in their entirety - passing the investigation buck elsewhere, but without any attention to the financial consequences that may be your direct responsibility.

The assets and liabilities of the Bodies for which you have audit responsibility do not recognise the semantics of "maladministration" -v- "misfeasance" , and yet you assert that you do as auditors. From your response - it matters not to you whether financial liabilities of perhaps severe consequence are brought to your attention - what matters is the word to be used (whether correctly or otherwise) - that cannot be true, can it? If in reality, you then aver that the financial statements when audited are a true reflection of the position - when you are aware of matters that may alter that very position - but which you have chosen to completely ignore.

I have copied these comments to others - so that they are aware of what I see as a major and potentially disastrous flaw in the work which you say you carry out - eventually on behalf of the public who would have to bear the cost of any failures on your part. Not, as it appears from your letter, failures of error or omission, but failures arising from a direct and deliberate series of decisions on your part.

I cannot believe what I have read in your response - and I believe I may not be alone in that conclusion.

Evan Owen
Preswylfa
LL44 2EH

PS: To illustrate my comments, and to heighten the implications, please read this article from today's Daily Telegraph.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/7964816/UK-bank-accounting-rules-fatally-flawed-warns-influential-watchdog.html