Financial reporting in Education and Training Boards (ETBs) is out of step with normally-accepted accounting practices, according the Comptroller and Auditor General (G&AG).

In a new report, which the C&AG says does not represent a criticism of staff in the boards, it found that ETB financial reports were cumbersome and difficult to understand. It largely put this down to the organisations’ dependency on legacy ICT systems.

Sixteen ETBs were created in 2013 to replace and rationalise 33 VECs. They manage a range of educational bodies including second level schools and colleges, further education colleges, community national schools and various further education centres.

Fórsa official Stella Griffin said shared payroll services are being introduced in the sector, but the planned financial shared service has not progressed.

“The report reflects an organisation which has been created with an incomplete structure and insufficient support to all but the highest-level staff. ICT systems are pretty much as they were in the VECs, and admin staff have not been encouraged to upskill or undertake the further education that the C&AG says is needed.

“Although the report only deals with financial management and reporting, these issues are reflected in various functions including HR, corporate services and ICT, and there is inconsistency in the responsibilities assigned to grades in the sector,” she said.

Fórsa has long been seeking additional staffing and an organisational design exercise for ETB grades below director level, where posts were redesigned in 2017. Discussions on the next phase of this process commenced in 2017, but management is only prepared to discuss staffing immediately below director level.

Fórsa and other ETB unions have referred the matter to the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC), saying that the discussions should develop a consistent approach to grading structures, roles and responsibilities across the sector. 

Stella says there’s been no progress on the development of a fit-for-purpose structure to support ETBs, which are delivering a growing number of responsibilities. “Training and upskilling opportunities are haphazard at best, and the career path from lower to higher grades is limited and unclear,” she said.

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