Does it pass the gut check?Recent stories about expense claims by public servants (elected, appointed and unelected) for questionable items lead me to believe that those submitting and approving them have not stopped to check their gut about whether these claims are legitimate. The gut check would have told you your “entitlements” should come out of your personal funds and not out of your organizations’ funds. The gut check says that if it’s not something you want on the front page of the newspaper or exploding on Twitter, then refrain from doing it. The gut check would tell you if the item is in a grey zone, it’s likely best to err on the side of caution and not claim it. In all of these instances, the organizations in question had policies or guidelines governing the claims process which were overridden or ignored. So while I often preach about the necessity of sound policies, the best policies in the world are useless if they aren’t being adhered to. I’d like to believe there are good people out their practicing their gut checks. But until governing bodies champion and practice transparency and accountability, we will continue to see secrecy and self-justification triumph. Julie Mikuska · |
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