Auditor General Flags Malta Film Commission’s Disregard Of Budgetary Controls And ‘Extravagant’ Use Of Public Funds
The Malta Film Commission showed a complete disregard for established policies and procedures governing travel abroad in addition to using public funds in an extravagant manner, an investigation by the Auditor General has found.
“The lack of effective internal controls at the Malta Film Commission resulted in a concentration of authority with the Film Commissioner and no independent oversight,” the NAO noted.
“This contributed to a disregard to budgetary controls and standing regulations, as well as extravagance in the use of public funds, which in turn translated into a negative working capital of over €1 million in 2020.”
The report also noted that the upkeep of records was also inadequate and a hindrance to effective audit trail and analysis.
The Auditor General’s annual report was published yesterday and includes 42 relatively short reports about the operations of several government entities, including the Malta Film Commission.
The matter of travel falls within the remit of the Film Commissioner, who is also the person that undertook “almost all travel”, the NAO observed, adding that this meant there was a need for some form of independent authorisation or monitoring.
There were 18 trips abroad during 2018, 22 in 2019 and three in 2020. Between 2018 and 2019, the commission exceeded its travel budget of €608,850 by a whopping € 578,216 – almost double the amount.
The commission said it accepted the Auditor General’s recommendation in this regard, noting, however, that in many cases, “the fact that the budgeted travel expenditure is exceeded does not necessarily mean there was a lack of planning”.
It added that travel expenditure was based on strategic decisions taken during the year which would have been difficult to forecast due to the volatility of the industry.
While its spending had increased, revenue generated by the commission also went up over the three years investigated by the Auditor General.
In fact, the commission’s net annual deficit decreased from €535,058 in 2018 to €50,527 in 2020.
The Malta Film Commission recently faced flak from local producers and filmmakers after it was revealed that the Malta Film Awards had had €400,000 allocated to them compared to the relatively small budget available for certain filmmakers.
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