By Gordon Deegan

The prestigious national art college, which boasts designer, Orla Kiely and milliner, Philip Treacy as celebrated alumni, last year abandoned a new HR and payroll system - but only after spending €138,000 on the project.

The wasted spend on the project is revealed in the just-published 2016 annual report by the National College of Art and Design (NCAD) in Dublin.

According to Director, Sarah Glennie in her report, in June 2014, NCAD purchased the Core HR system to correct some of the weaknesses in control over Human Resources (HR) and payroll records.

Ms Glennie - who took up her new role in January of this year - states that this project was not managed competently "and consequently management never fully implemented the project".

She said: “As costs continued to escalate, the current board decided in August 2017 to terminate this project due to non-delivery of the end product.”

Ms Glennie said: “In total, €138,000 was invested directly with CORE HR over the three-year implementation of the project."

The accounts show that the college recorded a surplus of €567,000 in 2016 and this followed a surplus of €234,000 in 2015.

This followed the college recording a loss of €758,000 in 2014 and a loss of €660,000 in 2013.

In recent years, a new board at NCAD has been busy overhauling 'a not fit for purpose' accounting system.

In 2015, members of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) described as “scandalous” the provision of €104 million from the Higher Education Authority to NCAD at a time when its accounting practices were found to be unfit for purpose.

The college received the funding from the HEA despite significant delays in the college producing annual accounts.

In her report, Ms Glennie refers to the appearance before the PAC and states that “the timing of the appearance was such that some but not all necessary changes to eliminate financial flaws were implemented”.

He said: “This continues as a work in progress.”

Ms Glennie further states that in January 2015, RSM McClure Watters (RSM) were appointed as internal auditors for a three-year term.

Ms Glennie stated that a governance action plan is the main driver for remediation works within the college for corporate governance failings.

The accounts show that NCAD’s spend on professional fees in 2016 increased from €155,000 to €532,000.

The college more than doubled its surplus in 2016 after income from academic fees increased from €7.8m to €9.16m.

Staff costs increased from €9.45m to €10.1m with pay for the director’s role totalling €150,000 made up of €135,000 in pay and €15,000 in social welfare costs.