Shallow responds to criticism of CWI annual report
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC) — Cricket West Indies (CWI) President Kishore Shallow has dismissed claims by chartered accountant Mariano Browne that its recently released annual report is a “PR document”.
Browne, an economist and chief executive officer (CEO) at The University of the West Indies’ Arthur Lok Jack Global School of Business, gave the report a failing grade earlier this week, saying that it did not give a clear understanding of the operations of West Indies cricket.
He said that the report failed to provide necessary details on how the money at CWI was being utilised.
“As a comprehensive report on the state of West Indies cricket it would get zero,” Browne said at the time. “On the basis of a financial statement to give me an insight, it would get a minus. In terms of a PR document, it will give a plus, because it’s PR.”
However, in response, Shallow said Browne had made statements from an uninformed position, as he had not read the audited financial statements made available by CWI.
When questioned, Browne admitted he had not seen CWI’s audited financial statements.
“One of the things I don’t quite appreciate and have a very low tolerance for, is when people with a fair reputation in other areas come and want to make comments as loosely as Mr Browne did,” Shallow said.
“The gentleman goes in the media and speaks with authority, or so he feels, on a matter and he didn’t even do research. He did not even go to the website and see that there are the audited statements there.”
CEO at CWI, Chris Dehring, also refuted Browne’s suggestion that the financial report was not up to par.
He said the report was, “A very solid report that contains an incredible amount of information about all the activities of Cricket West Indies,” Dehring said.
“You can’t look on one single annual report and hope to capture all of the detail and work and documents that support that.
“When you are making a public document, you’re basically capturing elements from a body of work that has taken place across 12 months and trying to give you a flavour of what has taken place.”
