The second of two audits of the Long Beach Museum of Art Foundation was released yesterday by City Auditor Laura Doud, showing more evidence of negligence such as missing works of art and incomplete records, agreed-upon appraisals that were never performed, and violations of an agreement that the Museum holds with the city.
“The City owns some very valuable pieces of art. It is critical that proper controls are in place to fully account for and protect the City’s assets,” Doud is quoted in a recent press release.
The report follows the lead of its predecessor, an audit performed in June that showed gross financial negligence that would result in millions of misspent funds. Auditor Doud acknowledged that the Museum has made corrections to its staff and is moving toward fixing the problems. Some of the main points from this recent audit are listed below:
– Lack of regular inventories resulted in missing pieces, incomplete records and unknown ownership
– Last full inventory performed in 1988
– Agreed-upon appraisals were never performed
– More than 40% of City-owned art is stored off site, violation of Agreement To Manage Act
See a full list of the missing items in a Press-Telegram article here, and a piece about the Museum’s most recognizable piece coming down here.
By Ryan ZumMallen, Managing Editor
Disclosure: lbpost.com publisher Shaun Lumachi is under contract with the Office of the Long Beach City Auditor.