Molesworth — who profits?

Forest and Bird, Volume 18, Issue 1, 1 February 1987, Page 6

Molesworth — who profits?

On January 22 the Deputy Prime Minister, Geoff Palmer, Conservation Minister Russell Marshall and Lands Minister Koro Wetere visited the 182,000 ha publiclyowned Molesworth Station in Marlborough to take a first hand look at this controversial area. Featured in our November 1986 magazine, Molesworth was one of a number of areas over which the Department of Conservation and Landcorp were vying for control. At the time of writing (mid January), it appeared that all but Molesworth were in the hands of Landcorp. Recently the Society employed a professional accounting analyst to look at the financial overview for Molesworth, published in the Molesworth Strategy Plan and claiming a $6 million accumulated profit for the station. The analyst described the overview as a "flight of financial fantasy" which was one of the ‘‘worst examples of creative accounting" he had ever seen. In claiming the $6 million profit, the overview was considered to break the golden rule of prudent accounting by anticipating profits on unrealised gains. It includes in its so called "profits" an increase in the value of the station itself, despite the fact that Molesworth is supposedly not for sale. If this is disallowed, the profits are more than halved.