Cape Breton-based employment organization mismanaged $1 million: auditor general – Halifax | 24CA News
A Cape Breton-based employment providers group mismanaged greater than $1 million in authorities funds, Nova Scotia’s auditor basic says in a report printed Tuesday.
Kim Adair’s audit of the Island Employment Association discovered quite a few situations of “gross mismanagement of public funds,” together with about $340,000 in transactions that concerned alleged conflicts of curiosity.
Adair says a few of the mismanagement her workplace uncovered included $162,000 in unapproved wage funds and bonuses, $150,000 in unused and unapproved trip time, $74,000 in over-budget furnishings purchases and $20,000 in unauthorized journey bills.
The report says the group’s government director, together with some administration and employees, “engaged in unethical and unprofessional behaviour.” The board of administrators, in the meantime, failed in its fiduciary tasks “due to poor governing practices.”
The audit additionally says the province’s division of Labour, Skills and Immigration didn’t present ample oversight of the group and “did not take appropriate action to protect the public interest.”
The matter is now being investigated by the Cape Breton Regional Police Service’s main crime unit.
Nova Scotia’s Labour Department offered $9.84 million to the Island Employment Association by way of Nova Scotia Works between 2016 and 2021. But Adair says her workplace “could not find any clear assessment” supporting the choices to resume the group’s funding over that interval.
The report additionally discovered that the province didn’t appropriately examine three complaints concerning the affiliation, certainly one of 16 third-party providers suppliers.
“With 16 third-party service providers … it is critically important for (the Labour Department) to evaluate and monitor whether these organizations warrant entrusting them with annually over $22.8 million of taxpayers’ dollars,” the report reads.
Labour Minister Jill Balser stated the auditor basic’s report confirms findings from Nova Scotia’s Ombudsman in September 2021, including that shortly thereafter the province pulled the Island employment Association’s funding.
“At the time, some questioned our decision to end our funding agreement,” she stated in a press release. “I hope now, with the auditor general’s detailed report of findings, this decision is better understood.”
The auditor basic’s workplace really helpful that the province assess how Nova Scotia Works packages are delivered, together with by figuring out if program targets have been established and are being met, and by evaluating dangers to outsourcing packages.
Balser says the division has accepted the auditor basic’s suggestions and has already began implementing a few of them, together with requiring suppliers to submit detailed monetary info, and mandating exterior auditors to conduct periodic opinions.
Adair is scheduled to carry a news convention on her findings later within the day, and Balser is to talk with reporters after.
This report by The Canadian Press was first printed June 20, 2023.
© 2023 The Canadian Press
