Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) overstated its daily circulation numbers, among other...
While the details of who and when the fund was set up could not be confirmed, it dated back to as early as 2000.
These targets relating to circulation numbers were discussed with senior management and approved as part of the then listed company’s annual budget. The board did not appear to be aware of the operational aspects of the fund, and only the circulation division seemed to know about the source of money paid into the fund.In August 2021 alone, bulk copies through the NIE Fund which were reported but not distributed accounted for 49,000, or more than half, of the overstated average daily circulation number.
There are also grounds to suggest improper accounting of the NIE Fund as financial reporting standards require that an entity recognise revenue when it satisfies its obligations under a contract with a customer. The deal aimed to expand SPH news publications’ outreach and distribute them in other jurisdictions at zero or low real costs. The deal also sought to promote the publications locally by building subscriptions with complimentary access to foreign news publications.
Under the first deal, SPH supplied secondary schools with a print and digital package of both the IN Paper and ST. During the Covid-19 pandemic, when schools requested to pause the delivery of print copies for their reading corners owing to school closures, these copies were still printed, sent to the Kaki Bukit warehouse, and eventually disposed of or stored and redistributed later.The number of copies that were sent to Kaki Bukit during the school closures and disposed of is not known.
They were also delivered to the client at a later date, or delivered to halfway houses and charities in case of audit checks.
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