By Robert Haugh
On Tuesday, the Stadium Authority (SA) heard a report from J.S. Held (JSH), the auditing firm they hired to review stadium finances.
As we reported yesterday, 49ers CFO Scott Sabatino sent a letter to the SA Board saying the auditor should be fired.
After reviewing the report and the auditor’s presentation, now we know why.
Here’s a Summary of Findings directly from the auditor’s report:
1. For the fiscal years ended March 2015 and 2017, JSH identified the specific year-end adjustments that explain the difference between the sum of the results for total Ticketed and Special Events and the overall annual financial results reported for Non-NFL Events.
2. For the fiscal year ended March 2016, documentation has not been provided that identifies year end adjustments recorded by ManCo.
3. Year-end adjustments should be further investigated to determine if the entries recorded were proper, both in terms of the type of expense paid and whether or not it was recorded in the correct period.
4. Regarding the reported results of the individual Ticketed and Special Events, on an overall basis the documentation provided by ManCo is inadequate for determining whether or not the financial results for each event was reported accurately. This does not mean that the results reported are necessarily inaccurate; rather, it means JSH cannot determine from the provided documents if the reported results are accurate or inaccurate, and additional documentation and information is needed to make that determination.
During the auditor’s presentation, the SA Board saw a spreadsheet that shows major financial discrepancies for the three fiscal years from 2015-2017.
It shows the 49ers can’t explain these differences: FY 2015 — $942,026, FY 2016 — $1,727, 802, FY 2017 — $254,409. Wow.
Where did the money go? We may never find out because the 49ers won’t cooperate anymore with the audit.
Here’s what we found out from the auditor’s report:
JSH was working with ManCo to obtain additional documentation and information, but ManCo terminated communication with JSH as of September 1, 2020.
If you want to know how the SA Board reacted, read tomorrow’s column for part two of this report.
[…] Tuesday, the Santa Clara Stadium Authority (SCSA) had a five-hour debate about the latest stadium audit. We’ve written about the audit’s highlights […]
Hi Wolf. So my question is, you don’t want the 49ers to get away with “this.” What is it you don’t want the 49ers to get “away from,” and how much taxpayer money are you willing to pay to make sure they don’t “get away” from [presumably] whatever the 49ers are “getting away with”?
[…] Note: Part two of last Tuesday’s Stadium Authority meeting about major discrepancies in the financial audit is coming […]
[…] Note: Read Part 2 of our coverage of the stadium audit on […]
Hopefully, the new Council will not let the 49ers get away with this. Sickening how a bunch of DEEP BLUE voters allow themselves to be suckered by big money corporations. Maybe the right-wing-nuts are right about DEEP BLUE voters not being very smart…