Dhe “financial requirements” of Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR) will continue to increase if savings are not made more consistently. That is the conclusion of the Bavarian Supreme Court of Auditors (ORH) on the financial situation of the ARD institution. In accordance with Article 13 Paragraph 4 of the Bavarian Broadcasting Act, the Court of Auditors regularly informs the Bavarian State Parliament and the legal supervisory authority, the State Chancellery, about the broadcaster’s budget management. He assesses financial developments in the past and gives advice. However, it is not the task of the Court of Auditors to make recommendations on the financial resources of the broadcaster and thus on the broadcasting fee. What the examiners find is alarming: by the end of 2024, the financial reserves of the BR will be largely used up.
The Court of Auditors sees three critical points: high personnel expenses, pension obligations and the so-called “BR to the power of three” process, with which the broadcaster is promoting new digital offers. The decisive factor is that the BR implements its planned savings, especially in terms of personnel. The job cuts should be continued consistently. In order to reduce personnel costs, relocation of existing positions to higher salary groups and high wage increases should be avoided.
465 million euros are missing
According to the audit report, as of December 31, 2020, there was a deficit of 465 million euros in the company pension scheme. This shortfall will tend to grow. The BR still has a long way to go to face the increasing pension burdens. At the end of December 2020, Bayerischer Rundfunk reported negative equity of EUR 47 million for the first time. This has a lot to do with the pension provisions. The annual results under commercial law even showed a total deficit of 267 million euros from 2018 to 2020. Despite the over-indebtedness, Bayerischer Rundfunk had funds of 66 million euros at the end of 2020. This resulted from lower investments, savings and higher income from the broadcasting fee. In order to be able to pay the company pensions, the BR will have to step up its savings efforts.
The auditors find that the BR has largely dispensed with allocations and distribution of overhead costs since 2016. As a result, the proportion of overhead costs not allocated to a product in the total costs grew to 56.3 percent (2020). With more than every second euro, it was not possible to trace what it was spent on. In addition, BR did not report its online costs separately. They were included in overheads and based on estimates.
The Court of Auditors also looked into the channel’s commercial activities. Like all ARD broadcasters, BR outsources profit-oriented ventures to subsidiaries. The Court of Auditors has repeatedly criticized the results of BRmedia Service GmbH, a wholly owned subsidiary of BRmedia. The permanent loss of the company is unacceptable. The Court of Auditors is also critical of the personnel leasing by BRmedia Personal GmbH: the high payments made by BR for personnel leasing canceled out the savings made by downsizing.
