The Whitney Educational Trust received a "denial of opinion" on its 2004 financial statements from former Auditor General Larry Dennis.

In his final report, tabled in the House of Assembly on Friday, Mr. Dennis said the audit report was denied for five reasons:

• The Trust could not provide adequate documentary support for $40,000 of operating expenses and related accounts payable

• The Trust could not provide a complete set of minutes to enable him to determine whether all decisions taken by the board were reflected in the financial statements.

• Certain capital assets were not recorded in the Trust's financial statements because neither the Ministry of Works and Engineering nor the Ministry of Education have cost-data for the Trust's capital assets that were paid for years ago by Government. Similarly, $400,000 of computer equipment provided by the Ministry of Education during 2003 was not capitalised by the Trust.

• The Ministry of Education was unable to provide figures for the amounts paid to substitute teachers on behalf of the Trust for inclusion in the Trust's financial statements.

• The Trust receives donation revenue which, by its nature, cannot be audited satisfactorily.

The former AG also explained why there were delays in the audit.

"As in the past, the annual audit was delayed because the accounts were not available for audit until long after the year-end, and there were further delays in receiving information needed to complete the audit," Mr. Dennis wrote. "For example, the accounts for 2004 were made available for audit in June 2008 and the audit began soon thereafter. Audit work was substantially complete in early October 2008, but despite several reminders, certain information needed to finalise the audit had not been received by the end of January 2009."

The Royal Gazette Editor Bill Zuill is a trustee of the Whitney Educational Trust.