The Court of Auditors regrets the “lack of involvement” of the Foreign Ministry in the management of Casa de América

Eduardo González The Court of Auditors has detected “deficiencies and weaknesses” in the management of Casa de América in relation to internal control, accounting information and the formulation and approval of the annual accounts, which “should be corrected as soon as possible”, and has attributed these deficiencies to “the lack of involvement” of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on which it depends, in “its direction, technical assistance and supervision as an instrument of public diplomacy”. Casa de América is a public law entity established in 1990 with the aim of developing activities that allow “bringing the wealth and diversity of the American continent closer to Spain and strengthening the ties with the Ibero-American world”. It is part of the Network of Houses of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAUC) as a tool of State policy in promoting and improving the image of Spain. Between 2020 and 2021, Casa de América had ordinary management expenses of 6.1 million euros and had 24 employees. Last Thursday, the Court of Auditors made public the Audit Report of the Casa de América Consortium (CCAM) corresponding to the years 2020 and 2021, which warns, precisely, of the need to carry out an audit of the Consortium "because it has never been specifically audited by the Court of Auditors" and because of "the delay in the formulation, approval and submission of the annual accounts of previous years". The report notes “a series of deficiencies and weaknesses in aspects related to internal control and the accounting information system used by the entity, as well as repeated failures to comply with the deadlines for the formulation and approval of the annual accounts and reservations in their content, which should be corrected as soon as possible.” Likewise, “deficiencies have been observed in aspects related to strategic planning and the definition of the objectives to be achieved and the indicators to measure them,” which respond, “in part, to the lack of involvement of the MAUC in its management, technical assistance and supervision as an instrument of public diplomacy, a circumstance that limits its contribution in the function for which it was created.” Internal control As a result of this lack of involvement by Foreign Affairs, the report continues, the Casa de América Consortium formally lacks a complete and structured system of internal control, having observed gaps and deficiencies related to the basic organizational instruments of personnel, instructions, procedures and internal manuals of economic-financial management, as well as in the document management and archiving system. The document also warns of the need to “adjust the collective agreement to the legal framework”. Furthermore, despite participating in Spanish public diplomacy as part of the Network of Houses, attached to the MAUC, “it is not seen that it has received the corresponding direction, technical assistance and supervision from the Ministry to constitute an effective instrument on which to rely for the development of said function”. The report also regrets that the planning it has does not comply with the requirements of the system that should allow it to exercise control over the effectiveness of its activity and that the accounting information system is not fully adapted to the needs of the entity, “constituting the origin of many of the inaccuracies and non-compliance”. Financing With regard to financing, the Court “positively values its efforts to obtain greater private financing, which in 2021 was 46%”, but recommends that these efforts be intensified “to obtain sponsorships and collaborations in the environment of diplomatic legations, companies and entities of the Ibero-American Community”. Furthermore, it continues, the Consortium “should promote the development of a multi-year financing plan that binds the consortium entities, without prejudice to submitting to the Ministry the request for an increase in financing to cover the expenses that correspond to it according to the statutes”. For all these reasons, the Court proposes various recommendations to the CCAM to promote improvements in the planning of its activity, in the adaptation of the regulation in terms of human resources and in the submission and content of the accounts submitted, “that contribute to mitigating solvency risks in situations of uncertainty”.

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