The University of Nottingham’s student-run charity, Karnival, is to have professional and independent auditors review its banking processes after it emerged that the organisation had overpaid charities by £20,000.
At the latest meeting of Scrutiny Panel, SU Activities Officer, Joe Caunce, confirmed that Karnival faced a financial shortfall this year as a result of an accounting error.
Caunce explained to Impact: ” At the end of the first semester this year, Karnival had recorded over £110,000 going through the money counting machines in the Trent Building from raising and giving (RAG) collections.
“Once this money was taken away by the security company to be banked, Karnival only received about £90,000 in its bank account, £20,000 less than previously thought”
“Once this money was taken away by the security company to be banked, Karnival only received about £90,000 in its bank account, £20,000 less than previously thought”.
“There were instances over the year when the machine had counted 50p coins as £2 coins, and this is what is the most likely cause of the shortfall”.
He also revealed that Karnival paid out the total amount of collection money, around £110,000, before it was cleared into the SRS’ bank account, but emphasised that this was because of “a time pressure on the charities”
He also revealed that Karnival paid out the total amount of collection money, around £110,000, before it was cleared into the SRS’ bank account, but emphasised that this was because of “a time pressure on the charities”.
Caunce also stated that Karrnival is forecast to make around £30,000 in profit each year, based on its current financial model, and that financial planning around ‘RAG raids’ and other events will be revised to help minimise the financial impact of the error.
Furthermore, he said that the accounting error exemplified the need for the SRS to be further supported, “From this, we have seen further evidence that Karnival needs more support in the amount of money it is handling and its banking logistics”.
Jacob Bentley
Image: @NottsKarni via Twitter
What is SRS?
An SRS is a Student Run Service (such as Karni, Tec, Impact etc.)