Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am going to make a comment on behalf of the Committee of Public Accounts. We are speaking specifically about CIT which has a turnover of €100 million per annum, but my comment applies to the third level sector generally. In the context of corporate governance, it is shocking that we have boards and governing bodies in place in the sector that do not have financial competence. That might be the fault of the legislation, but it is shocking. I am looking at the accounts of CIT which were signed by the then chairman and president. The accounts refer to their responsibility to select the accounting policies. This is an issue that deserves further scrutiny by the Comptroller and Auditor General too. It is extraordinary that we have chairmen and presidents of governing bodies which, by and large, do not have members with any financial competence who are putting their names to statements to the effect that they have selected suitable accounting policies; made judgments and estimates that are reasonable and prudent; prepared financial statements on a going concern basis, unless the principle is inappropriate; and disclosed and explained all material departures from acceptable accounting standards. I safely say, based on what the witnesses have said, that the people who signed such statements have no understanding whatsoever of what they have signed. In effect, they have signed a blank cheque, although I accept that the accounts are audited. I am not talking about the accuracy of the accounts because the Comptroller and Auditor General audits them. Yesterday we were discussing the issue of corporate governance, the submission of accounts and the fact that accounts were being submitted late. Now we are discussing the fact that we have governing bodies and boards of directors of State bodies, some of which have accounts running into the hundreds of millions of euro, which lack financial competence. I know that such competence can be hired in, but it should be part of the board.