BBC warned after busting website budget

The BBC has been warned to improve its financial management after the corporation exceeded its website budget by almost 50 per cent last year.

The actual spend on the bbc.co.uk during 2007/8 was £110m - 48 per cent higher than the website's service licence baseline budget.

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The figures emerged following a review of bbc.co.uk by the Beeb's governing body, the BBC Trust, as part of terms in the new Charter and Agreement.

According to the Trust the majority of overspend was due to a misallocation of £24.9m in overheads and costs to other BBC budgets.

The Trust approved a six-year creative funding strategy in October last year which saw increased investment in bbc.co.uk.

The BBC wanted to spend £39m of this in 2008/9 but the Trust will not approve the investment until it's satisfied the BBC has tightened its management controls to "ensure better financial accountability and editorial and managerial oversight".

In a statement, the BBC said it accepts the Trust's conclusions that its processes and management controls are not adequate and recognises this needs to be addressed.

The BBC said it is developing plans to meet these concerns and will discuss them with the BBC Trust in the coming weeks.

Despite the issues, the BBC Trust said bbc.co.uk is an "excellent service that is highly valued by users and makes a strong contribution to delivering the BBC's public purposes".