Commentary: Audit questions roil the Palm Springs Art Museum

This is read by an automated voice.Please report any issues or inconsistencies here.

Serious financial woes have plagued the Palm Springs Art Museum for at least six years, according to internal documents obtained by The Times.Recent developments have opened a Pandora’s box.On Jan.

15, the accounting firm conducting the annual audit of the museum’s 2024 books attached to its report a “letter of material weakness,” a standard accounting practice for alerting a client to the reasonable possibility that its internal financial statements are significantly out of whack.Less than three months after the audit letter, in early April, the museum’s director suddenly resigned, and trustee defections began.A cascade of at least eight resignations from the museum’s board of trustees — nearly one-third of its membership — has occurred since spring.

One resignation came on the advice of the trustee’s attorney.With 19 trustees remaining, according to a listing on the museum’s website, the total number has fallen below the minimum of 20 required in the museum’s by-laws.Palm Springs Art Museum board chair Craig Hartzman did not respond to multiple requests for comment.Accountants at Eide Bailly, citing a “deficiency in internal control” at the museum, highlighted six areas of concern, including problems with reporting of endowment spending, improper recording of the market value of donated and deaccessioned art, and faulty recording of admissions revenues.Former museum director Adam Lerner had reportedly been negotiating a three-year contract renewal when he stepped down.

Without elaborating on his unexpected decision to depart, he was cited in a museum press release as leaving for personal reasons.Lerner returned to Colorado, where he previously headed the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver.Reached by text, Lerner declined a request for interview, referring questions to the museum.After an internal candidate was appointed to be director of the Palm Sp...