Hong Kong Sports Institute comes under fire over lack of audit mechanism
Agency's not in a healthy state, with Audit Commission pointing to lax controls on finances and other issues
A public agency providing sports training and support to elite athletes has been upbraided by the government's audit watchdog for lacking an internal mechanism of checks and balances.
The Sports Institute's haphazard system for directors to declare their interests and absence of a corporate governance manual was also criticised in the Audit Commission's latest report, released yesterday.
A corporate governance manual was needed, it said, in view of poor meeting attendance among the institute's directors in the four years to 2013/14.
"In nominating directors for reappointment, the Home Affairs Bureau did not seem to have taken into account their attendance rates in board or committee meetings," the report reviewing public-sector performance and accountability said.
In its investigation into the government-run institute, the commission found annual expenditure rose to HK$430 million in 2014/15 from HK$160 million in 2005/06.
Yet, the institute had not set up any internal audit function or committee to control its finances and administration better since its launch in 2004, the report said.
It submitted to the government statements of management accounts only every two months instead of once a month, and failed to file yearly reports on programme implementations over the past four years.
