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Bankrupt Hokkaido Athletics Association Accounting Fraud Uncovered After Non-Payment of JAAF Dues

Last week the Hokkaido Athletics Association revealed that it has not paid the JAAF ¥7.35 million [~$49,000 USD] it collected in membership fees and licensing of officials within the precfecture in 2022. The HAA said that due to a drop in income and rise in costs it had been forced to divert the funds to pay for other activities such as training camps, and that it has asked its member local athletics associations for further financial support.

According to the HAA, in the 2022 fiscal year it collected approximately ¥19 million [~$127,000 USD] in membership fees from roughly 11,600 people, including junior high school students, high school students, adults, and officials. A JAAF statement said that "members will not be held responsible" for the situation, and that their 2022 results would still be accepted as valid despite the prefectural association's non-payment of their membership fees to the national organization.

The HAA has operated at a loss for the last 10 years and has continued its activities by drawing upon its existing savings, which in the 2012 fiscal year were around ¥70 million [~$467,000 USD]. In fiscal 2018 it used up the last remaining portion, roughly ¥15 million [~$100,000 USD], and from 2019 to 2022 utilized fraudulent accounting to make it look like it still had that ¥15 million in reserve. This accounting fraud was discovered after the JAAF insisted that the HAA pay the registration fees it had collected.

As a result of the HAA's financial problems, the JAAF is looking at canceling the Nambu Memorial Meet, one of the country's top-level track meets, as well as training camps geared toward development at the junior high school level. A spokesperson for the HAA commented, "We would like to review our financial management practices."

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translated by Brett Larner

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