Investigators are due to arrive in Kaitaia today to start unravelling how a Maori trust board lost as much as $2 million.
Te Aupouri Maori Trust Board closed down abruptly last month with the loss of at least a dozen jobs after running into financial difficulties.
Services provided by the board - including school- and whanau-based social work and children's literacy programmes - were transferred to other providers, while the board's subsidiary companies were closed down or sold.
Some staff have been hired by the new providers.
The board's woes cast a cloud over what was to be a celebration earlier this month when Parliament passed a bill settling Treaty grievances with four Te Hiku iwi, including Te Aupouri, after decades of negotiation.
The bill created a new body, Te Runanga Nui o Te Aupouri, to manage the iwi's $21 million settlement, but the new organisation will automatically inherit the debts of the old trust board.
The runanga called on Maori Development Minister Te Ururoa Flavell to intervene and on August 27 he launched a ministerial investigation.
A four-strong investigation team is due for Kaitaia today, led by Ernst and Young managing partner Grant Taylor.
They will spend the next few days gathering information, before returning to Wellington to analyse their findings.
Meanwhile, an interim manager has been appointed to oversee the trust board's transition to the new runanga.
Evan Nathan has close ties to the Nathan whanau of Waipoua and, among other roles, has been a regional manager for the Department of Labour.
His appointment was assisted by Te Puni Kokiri, the Ministry of Maori Development.
The runanga's chief executive, Mike Stevens, said he was heartened by the support expressed by Mr Flavell and Treaty Settlements Minister Chris Finlayson during the final reading of the bill, and their commitment to helping Te Aupouri.
"Our people are cautiously optimistic that we can clear up the situation and find some common sense solutions to the problems that the trust board has experienced," he said.
Mr Flavell earlier told the Advocate he believed the trust board's financial woes were the result of poor decisions rather than fraud, but he would leave that to the investigation to determine.
He believed the debt was in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, but sources have put it at $2 million or higher.