Sloppy and lack of management on the part of the management are among the reasons why the Copenhagen Technical and Environmental Administration has built up a deficit of DKK 48 million.
It states a study that TV2 Lorry is in possession of. The study was made by Internal Audit in the City of Copenhagen.
The study was prepared after it emerged in November 2020 that the technical and environmental administration had discovered a mess in their accounts. A major million was missing.
The administration assessed that this was money that had been given to fictitious construction projects.
However, according to the study, it was not fictitious construction projects that were to blame for the million-dollar deficit. The error is instead due to negligence and lack of control on the part of management, the conclusion reads.
Specifically, the Internal Audit’s statement states that “lack of management and monitoring” in the Mobility, Climate Adaptation and Urban Maintenance department has contributed to the deficit.
According to the statement, the budget managers in the department have been aware of the deficit. But they have neither responded to it nor informed the management about it.
Per Nikolaj Bukh, professor of financial management at Aalborg University, has read the report.
He notes, among other things, that according to the investigation, no fictitious accounts have been created, as has previously been mentioned.
Therefore, he also considers that the nature of the case is not as serious as first assumed.
– It is serious, but not as serious as if one had committed fraud or accounting manipulations, as it initially seemed.
– It is clearly illegal and liable (to manipulate accounts, ed.). There, one has really exceeded some powers because one must not cheat deliberately.
– But if you are bad at following up and bad at understanding the accounting results, then you are bad at your job. And you have to be very bad at your job before it becomes illegal, he says to TV2 Lorry.
The new statement is the first in a longer course. Internal Audit will during 2021 carry out further studies and make further recommendations to the Technical and Environmental Administration.
Source: The Nordic Page
