NCI has been in contact with the Irish Times in relation to a misleading article published on the college’s recently filed financial statements for 2014/15.

The piece highlighted a decline of 37% in NCI’s operating surplus when in actuality the college experienced a 26% growth.

The inaccuracies stem from the journalist’s reading of the college accounts and specifically how the pension disclosures are reported under Financial Reporting Standard 17 (FRS17).

While the basic information in the article is taken straight from the Directors’ Report and Financial Statements for the year ended 30 June 2015, the way the surplus figure has been interpreted is misleading:

·         The article highlighted an apparent decline of 37% in operating surplus from €523k in 2014 to €325k in 2015.

·         However, these figures include non-cash / non-trading FRS17 pension adjustment charges of €209k in 2014 and €593k in 2015.

·         Therefore the true underlying operating surplus (excluding those adjustments) was €731k in 2014 and €918k in 2015;

·         This equates to 26% growth (not the 37% decline reported)

NCI has requested a printed clarification on the above.