Palestinian Society for Animal Welfare

The Society was established in 2011; it is a Palestinian non-governmental organization that aims to protect animals and address the challenges they face. Animal welfare issues in Palestinian society: total revenues amounted to 30,156 dollars, and total expenses amounted to 67,317 dollars during 2018.

The State Audit and Administrative Control Bureau (SAACB) conducted a comprehensive audit of the Society’s operations for the year ended 2018; the report reached the following main observations:

The current Board of Directors of the Society for the electoral term 2019-2021.

There is a kinship relation between two members of the Board of Directors (brothers), contrary to the provisions of the Charitable Associations and Civil Institutions Law.

Board members did not pay their annual membership subscriptions of 200 dollars per year since the Society’s establishment in 2011 until 2018, notwithstanding that multiple elections for the Society were held, contrary to the Society’s bylaws.

The Board of Directors of the Society did not fulfill the tasks and powers assigned to it, and did not perform its supervisory and oversight role over the Society’s financial and administrative affairs, in accordance with the provisions of the Society’s bylaws.

Conflict of interest in the management of financial and administrative affairs.

There is a second-degree kinship relation between two members of the Board of Directors (brothers), where one of them serves as the Society’s Treasurer.

A staff member (the brother of Board members) was appointed to the position of Executive Director, despite being a part-time employee (a government employee).

The wife of a Board member (the Society’s Treasurer) undertakes the Society’s accounting tasks in a part-time accounting position, and there are insufficient confirmations that she provided accounting services to the Society.

Execution of fictitious disbursement transactions.

Checks issued and received by a Board member and the Executive Director’s wife, in the amount of 2,500 dollars, and in the amount of 10,000 shekels, despite attaching disbursement vouchers and asset-related supporting documents for suppliers and service providers.

The Treasurer, periodically, collected the salary of the Society’s accountant (his wife) by endorsing the check issued in his favor, with no documentary evidence proving that the employee provided accounting services to the Society...!!?

Membership of the General Assembly.

The number of General Assembly members is only 22, and membership has not been opened since the Society’s establishment, which results in a reduced ability of General Assembly members to withdraw confidence from the Board of Directors; in addition, the President of the Society, his deputy, and the Treasurer have retained their positions for several consecutive electoral terms.

Control safeguards over the cash fund and bank accounts.

There are insufficient control safeguards over the cash fund; in addition, the Treasurer executed disbursement transactions without supporting documents and did not prepare periodic bank reconciliations, which leads to errors not being discovered, followed up, and corrected promptly after they occur.

Recording donations and revenues.

There are no sufficient control safeguards and supporting documents to verify the value of donations and revenues collected and deposited into bank accounts from the Society’s offices outside the homeland, which prevents verification of the Society’s disclosure of its revenues and undermines confidence in the Society’s financial statements for 2018.

Procurement procedures:

Disbursements for the purchase of services and goods were executed without following proper procurement rules and methods, which does not provide assurance about the integrity of the procurement procedures followed and may not guarantee obtaining the best quality at the lowest cost.

Income tax:

The Society did not comply with opening income tax withholdings with the Income Tax Authority, through which the income tax due on its employees’ salaries would be withheld, resulting in a loss of 1,410 dollars to the State Treasury for 2018.

Response to the report: the response was negative and the Society did not take the observations contained in the report into account.

Action on the report: the report was referred to the Cabinet, the Anti-Corruption Commission, and the Ministry of Labor to correct duplication of work, and to the Ministry of Interior regarding a regulatory defect in the Society’s status, in addition to the Society’s Board of Directors.