French festival chief is fired after British financial audit
mainThe head of of the classical music festival in the cty of Nantes, the Folle Journée de Nantes, has been forced to resign after auditors from KPMG discovered, according to a city press release ‘very significant cash flows linked to advances in salaries and entertainment expenses for the benefit of the Managing Director, which are far greater than the expenses actually recorded.’
The festival has a budget of 3.5 million Euros.
Joëlle Kerivin left her job on Friday.
It needs clarifying that there are actually 2 structures there: for administrative reasons, the management of the festival has been split into 2 entities, with 2 people at their head. Joëlle Kérivin was the head of a production company which is in charge of putting the festival together from a production and logistical and financial point of view. Her company does not actually conceive the festival and is separate from the CREA, a cultural center which is in charge of the artistic side, led by René Martin, who is the real head of the festival, in the sense in which we usually understand that term. Joëlle Kérivin could be seen, in a way, as a head of productions, or a head of finance and admin, if she worked in the same structure as René Martin, but actually, hers is a separate “société de production”.
Thank you very much for clarifying this.
Folle Journee de Nantes is a fine festival presenting some of the best classical artists not only at the Cite des Congres of Nantes and in the surrounding towns, but also as a great export with past concert series at Tokyo International Forum, Le Belem Concert Centre , Lisbon and Gulbenkian Bilbao among others. Much of it is broadcast on TV and radio. Whatever has happened here I hope that it will be sorted out quickly so that music lovers and performers can enjoy future concert series.
I understand that KPMG is an Anglo-Dutch company, incorporated in the UK but headquartered in the Netherlands. I assume that the audit was made by the French branch of KPMG, which has a presence in 147 countries.
“British”? What are you on about? That’s just silly.
KPMG is one of the global Big Four accounting firms. It has about 200 offices in France and audits thousands of French companies.
What is the evidence of British involvement?