Chamber and committees

Has that been consistent for a number of years?

What concerns me is whether there is something that can be learned about the progression towards the point that the organisation reached. Were there trigger points that could have been picked up in previous audits, which might have indicated that? I realise that you are talking about a big increase in expenses in one particular year, and that is pretty much what we are focused on. However, again, that did not happen overnight. There must have been some indication of that cultural change in previous years. Is there anything to learn about how to pick up on that compliance issue?

I agree that the board should have been challenging the internal audit process more. I presume that the external audit would have spot-checked that. My concern is that there was clearly non-compliance. Could that non-compliance have been picked up earlier not just by internal audit but by external audit? That is why I am asking whether there is something that we could learn for the future.

I do not disagree that there is a huge responsibility on them and that that responsibility was not exercised.

I will move on. Who normally approves the chief executive’s expenses?

The chair of the board personally approves them.

Is that part of the policies that were in place?

Presumably, we are talking about expenses in general and about specific expenses for the chief executive that were approved by the chair.

Somebody must have told the finance people, “Nah, it’s okay. You don’t have to worry about that. If they’ve been signed off by the chair or whatever, that’s okay.” Somebody must have said that.

What were those for?

Therefore, all the unsupported claims came from the senior management team and the chief executive.