Women’s Cinema Screens Association in Palestine

-        Women’s Cinema Screens, a non-profit institution established in 2005, aims to develop and enhance the capacities of the Palestinian cinema sector, and especially young female filmmakers, based on the participation of women in producing a creative and contemporary Palestinian culture, and the association’s expenditures during 2018 amounted to 283,225 euro, and the association’s total revenues for the same year amounted to 315,357 euro. The State Audit and Administrative Control Bureau (SAACB) conducted financial audit work on the affairs of Women’s Cinema Screens for the financial year ended 31-12-2018, and the Bureau reached the following observations:

·       Internal regulations:

-        The association does not have an internal control unit, nor are there alternative control and monitoring mechanisms that ensure the soundness of financial and administrative procedures.

-        The financial officer does not sign off on most manual and electronic disbursement vouchers, especially vouchers prepared before October 2018.

·       Board of Directors:

-        It appears that the association’s Board of Directors held only three annual meetings during 2018, and the association did not observe the regularity of holding meetings every three months, contrary to Article (17) of the association’s bylaws.

-        Members of the Board of Directors constitute 47% of the number of members of the General Assembly, whose total number is 15 members, which prevents the remaining General Assembly from being able to dismiss members of the Board of Directors and withdraw confidence in them according to Article 34 of the bylaws.

-        There is no approved salary scale at the association that specifies how to calculate basic salary, allowances, additions, and deductions for employees, which has resulted in a noticeable disparity in salary levels.

·       Fixed assets:

-        There is nothing to prove the registration of either the films produced and shot directly by the association, or the contents of the library (which contains purchased books, films and cassettes), in the paper fixed-asset register to ensure their control, especially since the films produced and shot directly by the association are considered very important products for which the majority of the association’s budget is spent.

·       Accounts payable:

-        No organized schedule has been prepared for the debts of the association’s Director General, amounting to 58,641 euro, so that it is approved by the Board of Directors, as repayments of this liability are made randomly and from the association’s cash fund.....!

-        The amounts accrued in favor of income tax on the association, which were not paid by the end of 2018, amounted to 34,35 euro, and the association does not remit tax dues on a regular basis.

-        The association’s failure to recognize the accounts payable owed by it for October, November, December 2016 to the owner of the premises, amounting to 4000 euro, in the association’s financial statements...!

·       Expenditures:

-        The association contracts directly with many service providers without soliciting price quotations, contrary to the procurement procedures and contrary to the association’s financial regulations, where the share of direct contracting amounted to 40% of the total accounts value according to the examined sample.

·       General donation revenues:

-        There is insufficient evidence regarding general donations in terms of the amount, as the cash amount is received directly by the Director General alone..., without evidence of the amount and source...!

-        In some cases the association feeds the cash fund with general donations without committing to depositing them directly into bank accounts...

·       Even such small associations... see negligence in them as an indicator... of lack of responsibility, disregard for public funds, lack of concern for the association’s interest... and opacity of transparency in performance and compliance... to the point that we found the association repays the former director’s debts from the donation fund money, which has noble objectives.... and of course it is not among its objectives... to repay private debts of executive employees...! We must change the pattern of thinking and behavior in managing public funds and donation money in a manner consistent with the objectives of non-profit associations and their bylaws and the laws governing them, and we must not indulge... at the expense of the credibility of public work... and cooperative and non-profit work in our society...!

·       Date: 6-10-2021