By Paul Osborne

I Trust Sport Ltd has published a report analysing the governance of the FIA ©I Trust SportDecember 2 - An independent report looking into the governance of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), has claimed the world governing body for motorsport needs to make major improvements in certain areas, including financial transparency, financial reporting and Presidential nomination process.


Commissioned by Britain's David Ward, who until recently was running against FIA President Jean Todt in the current election campaign, and conducted by I Trust Sport, a company dedicated to improving governance in international sport, the report looked to analyse each area of the FIA's governance using the "Basic Indicators for Better Governance in Sports Organisations" (BIBGIS), developed by the Swiss Graduate School of Public Administration.

It splits 63 indicators thought to show signs of good governance into seven categories with these then given a score out of four.

Ward, forced to withdraw his Presidential candidacy last month after failing to secure the backing of seven vice-president's - a requirement in the nomination process - told insidethegames he commissioned the report in order to give more voice to concerns he has been raising over the FIA governance.

"The attraction for me in the report is that a lot of the time when I've said things people have said, 'Oh yeah you would say that because you're a candidate' and I've been saying, 'Well yes but don't take my word for it look at the FIA and look at the IOC's (International Olympic Committee) basic guidelines and so on'.

"So having an independent study that benchmarks other sports and enables a comparison is a very useful tool and I think anyone acting in good faith and is serious about improving the governance of the FIA and wanting it to be world class can look at that and say 'Yeah there's things we need to do better'."

The report highlighted key areas – particularly financial reporting and financial transparency - it claimed were of serious concern.

The FIA scored just one out of four for overall reporting transparency, an area the report highlighted as needing significant improvements ©I Trust SportThe FIA scored just one out of four for overall reporting transparency, an area the report highlighted as needing significant improvements ©I Trust Sport



It established the FIA's lack of openly published information about finances and accounts, and remuneration of officials fell short of the highest international standards.

These concerns are "a bit worrying" according to Ward, who said that there are "very simple steps that they could do [the FIA] that would improve their score quite remarkably.

"The FIA doesn't publish an annual financial report and doesn't use international accounting standards and things recommended by the IOC as basic principles of good governance for a sports movement."

Ward claimed there were calls recently to implement international accounting standards however "the audit committee of the FIA and Senate, which is effectively like a finance committee of the FIA, both rejected the suggestion" which Ward found "hard to understand.".

He added: "They rejected it principally on the grounds that it was too expensive and that it's not appropriate for a non profit to use international accounting standards and I think those arguments are extraordinary weak.

"The FIA is a very wealthy organisation with a turnover of tens of millions [...] it frequently uses private jets so you wouldn't have thought that some additional accounting would really break the bank at all.

"Also they are now a fully recognised member of the IOC so you would have thought that they would actually want to align themselves with the guidance offered in the IOC's basic principles but they've sort of suggested they can't because of this idea that it's too expensive and not relevant for non profits which as I said I think is an extremely weak argument."

The report was commissioned by David Ward who had to withdraw his candidacy for the upcoming Presidential election after failing to secure the backing of seven vice-presidents of sport ®David Ward and TeamThe report was commissioned by David Ward who had to withdraw his candidacy for the upcoming Presidential election after failing to secure the backing of seven vice-presidents of sport ®David Ward and Team



When asked whether he thought the report would lead to changes in this financial transparency, Ward was optimistic believing external pressures would force the FIA to make amendments.

"I think that pressure from underneath will grow and actually I think in this day and age the need for greater financial transparency and reporting is going to become ever more important particularly for sports federations that engage with commercial partners in particular, sponsorship partners," he said.

"I don't think those sorts of partnerships will be staying if the FIA are not transparent financially.

"I think over time people will simple ask the question 'well why?

"Why can't we have access to this information?'"

The analysis also highlighted concerns over inconsistencies in the regulations for candidature to the FIA Presidency and described the nominations process as highly restrictive.

After scoring just one out of four in this area - an area Ward described as "overly complex" - the Briton still believes it will prove hard to bring about any kind of reform because of a "vested interest from the leadership to retain the system that it has because in the sport it creates a very top down leadership structure."

"The regions in the FIA are represented by people that hold office in virtue of a successful election on the presidents list rather than being elected bottom up by the region that they come from.

"I think that reform is long overdue and it's the way that the non-sporting side operates [vice-presidents for mobility].

"It's the more democratic way.

"It's quite clear why the current leadership does this; it gives them greater control.

"Those seven vice-presidents [for sport] are entirely dependent on their seat because of the President so not surprisingly they don't disagree with him very often."

Similar reports have been published for the IOC and FIFA recently with both governing bodies scoring higher than the FIA ©David Ward and TeamSimilar reports have been published for the IOC and FIFA recently with both governing bodies scoring higher than the FIA ©David Ward and Team



Changes to this process, which would see the seven vice-presidents for sport elected regionally, have, according to Ward, been "tabled" by some clubs ahead of the upcoming FIA General Assembly due to start today in Paris.

The FIA did score well in a number of areas, including the legal apparatus of the International Tribunal and the International Court of Appeal, described as "more comprehensive for dealing with disciplinary matters than comparable systems in most other sports."

The report also merited the FIA's - in association with the FIA Foundation and FIA institute - extensive investment in non-profit objectives regarding motor sport training and road safety.

A list of key reforms was listed by I Trust Sport which, in their view, would make significant improvements to the FIA's governance.

These reforms included:

· Openly publishing financial accounts according to recognised international standards

· Openly publishing remuneration details of elected officials and senior managers

· Openly publishing an annual report, which would contain a summary of the FIA's major activities

· Introducing fully independent, non–executive members of the Senate and World Councils

These reforms were welcomed by Ward who added FIA also needed to "change the nominating system to make it easier to have contested elections".

He highlighted this point with the recent IOC Presidential election - won by Thomas Bach - that saw six candidates bidding for the top job in the Olympic Movement whereas the FIA now has just one running candidate – Todt.

Ward also recommended the introduction of a chief executive to run alongside the President which would split the work load that the President has to deal with and ensure that a high concentration of power is not invested in just one individual.