The Botswana National Olympic Committee (BNOC) is expected to publish its audited financial reports this coming week. In what will be a first for local sport, the mother body will publish the report online despite a deficit reflecting in its books.
According to the BNOC Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Tuelo Serufho, the move by the BNOC is a deliberate one as the committee seeks to foster transparency in its day to day running. “Among the principles of good governance, there is transparency. This means having our financial status open for scrutiny by our stakeholders and the general public. As any organisation, we have to live by these principles and our aim is to ensure we comply,” the BNOC CEO explained.
Speaking in an interview, Serufho said publishing of the audited financial results is a standard procedure which is followed by big enterprises. “If you look at all big enterprises, you will find that they always have their financials published in newspapers. We as the BNOC are financed by public funds and we are now giving the public a little window into our affairs,” the BNOC CEO said. “We want our stakeholders and the public to question us where they see fit and make us account for our actions,” he added.
Although the audited financials were done way back in March, Serufho said BNOC could have published the results long back. He said the delays were as a result of them waiting to first discuss the results with their affiliates before getting them published. He added that the audited financials were given to their affiliates to scrutinise way back in April and were discussed at yesterday’s (Saturday) Ordinary General Meeting (OGM). He is also hopeful they will be published this week. On why they chose a year where their financials are showing a deficit estimated to be around P3 million, Serufho said the committee has nothing to hide.
He said as the BNOC, they have a clear explanation as to how they ended with such a deficit, hence they have no problem publishing. He said as an organisation, they feel that they have done everything above board and in the right way. “For the past five years when I have been at the BNOC, we have never posted unqualified reports. We have always made sure that our edited financials are posted on time,” he explained. Going forth, the BNOC CEO said they will be calling on their affiliates to publish their audited financials to show their compliance to good governance.
“As the umbrella body, we could not afford to be seen as telling our affiliates to abide by good corporate governance principles and show transparency while we are not doing as such. We wanted to lead by example so that they can follow suite,” he explained. Meanwhile, Serufho said they are also planning to publish their minutes online in future. He however said with regard to minutes, they will omit certain confidential information when publishing them.
