A Health Service Executive audit of a charity established to reduce alcohol-related harm has found it held 14 bank accounts as well as 11 cheque books.
The audit of the North West Alcohol Forum, based in Letterkenny, Co Donegal, was carried out on March 31st, 2015. It said the charity, which receives funding from several different sources, received €394,630 in funding from HSE West in 2013.
“Audit was advised that North West Alcohol Forum holds 14 separate bank accounts and these are held at the [name redacted] bank, Letterkenny,” it said. “Audit observed the cumulative bank balance for the 14 accounts was €361,450.15 at the 30th September 2014.”
One account was opened in 2014, while three were dormant or showed no change in the bank balance between December 2013 and September 2014. The audit said it was therefore “unclear” whether all the accounts were necessary and/ or critical to operations.
It recommended the chief executive and the chairman of the board review the necessity for having the accounts and to “establish if there is scope to reduce the number of accounts being held”. Management said this had been implemented.
The audit recommended the HSE area manager “must ensure that all HSE funding (both local and national) provided to the North West Alcohol Forum is recorded and monitored”.
Management said it agreed with the audit’s recommendation and said the business manager would contact all HSE funders “to ensure a comprehensive return”.
