Audit of Teachers’ Association shows ‘sloppy accounting’

SASKATOON Saskatchewan’s largest teachers’ association is pledging to overhaul its accounting practices after an audit uncovered multiple issues, including missing documentation, questionable expense claims and executives kept in the dark about major expenditures.

While the auditors stopped short of identifying any wrongdoing — the report notes missing documentation made a complete analysis difficult — they found multiple issues, described as “concerns” and “potential irregularities.”

The Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation (STF) hired KPMG Forensic Inc. to investigate the Saskatoon

Teachers’ Association (STA), which represents the city’s 4,200 teachers, earlier this year after receiving complaints about potentially inappropriate transactions.

The audit concentrated on the STA’S 2017 and 2018 conventions, as well as expenses claimed by its president, John Mcgettigan.

While the auditor uncovered “some concerns around controls and procedures,” KPMG did not find any money was missing or any “unethical, unprofessional or illegal behaviour,” Mcgettigan said in response to written questions from the Saskatoon Starphoenix.

KPMG’S report has been closely held since it was completed in August. Those granted direct access had to either sign out copies or ink a non-disclosure agreement. However, The Starphoenix recently obtained a copy of the document.

The report includes a detailed analysis of the conventions, both of which went over budget without the STA executive committee’s knowledge, and Mcgettigan’s expenses, many of which the auditors found to be documented haphazardly.

It also contains 20 recommendations aimed at strengthening the STA’S accounting practices, including reviewing how travel expenses, refunded expenses and promotional items are handled, as well as ensuring records are kept and preserved.

In a lengthy written response approved by the STA executive committee, Mcgettigan said the association already operates in line with some of the recommendations, and has or is working on implementing most of the others.

Three recommendations — which concern accrual accounting and a server-based email system — are being taken “under advisement,” Mcgettigan said.

In an interview this week, STF President Pat Maze said the audit — the first in his five years as president — was expected to cost $55,000, but ultimately cost upwards of $120,000 due to “roadblocks” related to missing documentation. He characterized the report’s findings as “sloppy accounting.”

The first section of the report concerns the two over budget conventions.

In response, the STA said the budgets appear larger than they are because the 2017 and 2018 conventions occurred during a single fiscal year.

The report’s second section details Mcgettigan’s expenses; some refunded expenses do not appear to have been properly documented while others were submitted at different times and to different STA expense accounts.

Asked what action should result from the KPMG report, Maze suggested implementing all of the report’s recommendations would be a positive step.