The expense scandal at IWK HAS affected my impression about the organization and I won’t be making any contributions soon.
What slays me about all these expense scandals is that there IS NO oversight and executives are given carte-blanche to do whatever they want.
When I was working as a field technician for an engineering company out West, I was given an expense account, not only for my own personal expenses (gas, food, hotels, etc) but also for entertaining customers. I would pick up one to 2 dozen Tim Horton’s donuts every day for the companies I was going to visit. But this did not come without rules.
I had to document, in writing, my expense: for what, when, and cost. Sometimes I had to justify the purchase, eg a new tool, or a guide book and always had to supply receipts. At the end of the month, I submitted my completed sheet to my immediate supervisor who scanned it for any large or unusual expenses. He would then authorize it with his signature. Then it went to the Finance department where the receipts and the dollar totals were matched to the entries on the expense sheet. Any errors were reported back to me for discussion, no changes were made to the total until I could justify/verify the error.
A couple days later, I would get a cheque, signed by the VP of Finance.
There was a process, and everyone had to follow it. No one abused the process because they COULD NOT, because of the scrutiny.
The Board has failed the organization and the donors who support the organization. Hopefully the donors/ public will not turn their back on the organization and it will not be costly in terms of the funds raised.
There must be consequences for a Board that is “lax” in the performance of its oversight and governance responsibilities. Some Board members must resign! I suggest the Chair and all the members of the Finance and Audit Committee must resign as a minimum. The dollars misspent are small compared to the possible financial ramifications if the donors lose faith. That cannot be risked and everything must be done to reflect that all responsible, acknowledge their failures and suffer the consequences.
Bill you comment that all the independent Board members, are well qualified volunteers. So if they were qualified, but this still happened, what were they negligent??
Boards must trust those they empower to manage but they must verify that the ongoing trust is warranted. Qualified Board members know that. Trusting is easy, verification requires more engagement and effort. This Board did the easy stuff and walked away from its responsibility. There must be consequences, there must be accountability, and therefore there must be Board resignations.
The one thing that has never been addressed by the IWK Board is that there clearly was a flaw in “process” such that all these personal expenses were being authorized for payment by someone . The use of credit cards by any business is always a tricky process to manage . The cardholder gets to cause an expense based on an honour system . In this case , the IWK doesn’t know about the expense until the credit card invoice appears . Knowing that is the process, the IWK should have had safeguards in place to recoup any expense deemed personal . The easy way is to deduct from the employees pay . In terms of a timeline , if a personal expense showed up on a January credit card invoice , then within 30 days it should have been repaid . Simple . The Board Chair tried damage control at an ATV interview , but it was not very well done . The Minister shouldn’t fire the Board but certainly should audit all BOARD expenses for travel , meetings , etc and audit their whole paper process that either commits money or expenses money . There is a smell here and it affects the whole IWK reputation until the smell is gone .
It is.as you state,neither necessary or appropriate,to immediately fire the Board.
But I feel it is incumbent on the existing board to familiarize themselves with the duties obligations and powers entrusted to them,
They are not just “figureheads”
If they are not individually prepared to devote some time and effort to determining their duties then resign,
Their is no paucity of articles on their duties available on the net,
To start i refer them to
Volunteer.ca/management
If you cant stand the heat get out of the kitchen and let a real chef in
The expense scandal at IWK HAS affected my impression about the organization and I won’t be making any contributions soon.
What slays me about all these expense scandals is that there IS NO oversight and executives are given carte-blanche to do whatever they want.
When I was working as a field technician for an engineering company out West, I was given an expense account, not only for my own personal expenses (gas, food, hotels, etc) but also for entertaining customers. I would pick up one to 2 dozen Tim Horton’s donuts every day for the companies I was going to visit. But this did not come without rules.
I had to document, in writing, my expense: for what, when, and cost. Sometimes I had to justify the purchase, eg a new tool, or a guide book and always had to supply receipts. At the end of the month, I submitted my completed sheet to my immediate supervisor who scanned it for any large or unusual expenses. He would then authorize it with his signature. Then it went to the Finance department where the receipts and the dollar totals were matched to the entries on the expense sheet. Any errors were reported back to me for discussion, no changes were made to the total until I could justify/verify the error.
A couple days later, I would get a cheque, signed by the VP of Finance.
There was a process, and everyone had to follow it. No one abused the process because they COULD NOT, because of the scrutiny.
Bob | October 2, 2017 |
The Board has failed the organization and the donors who support the organization. Hopefully the donors/ public will not turn their back on the organization and it will not be costly in terms of the funds raised.
There must be consequences for a Board that is “lax” in the performance of its oversight and governance responsibilities. Some Board members must resign! I suggest the Chair and all the members of the Finance and Audit Committee must resign as a minimum. The dollars misspent are small compared to the possible financial ramifications if the donors lose faith. That cannot be risked and everything must be done to reflect that all responsible, acknowledge their failures and suffer the consequences.
Bill you comment that all the independent Board members, are well qualified volunteers. So if they were qualified, but this still happened, what were they negligent??
Boards must trust those they empower to manage but they must verify that the ongoing trust is warranted. Qualified Board members know that. Trusting is easy, verification requires more engagement and effort. This Board did the easy stuff and walked away from its responsibility. There must be consequences, there must be accountability, and therefore there must be Board resignations.
barry h | October 1, 2017 |
The one thing that has never been addressed by the IWK Board is that there clearly was a flaw in “process” such that all these personal expenses were being authorized for payment by someone . The use of credit cards by any business is always a tricky process to manage . The cardholder gets to cause an expense based on an honour system . In this case , the IWK doesn’t know about the expense until the credit card invoice appears . Knowing that is the process, the IWK should have had safeguards in place to recoup any expense deemed personal . The easy way is to deduct from the employees pay . In terms of a timeline , if a personal expense showed up on a January credit card invoice , then within 30 days it should have been repaid . Simple . The Board Chair tried damage control at an ATV interview , but it was not very well done . The Minister shouldn’t fire the Board but certainly should audit all BOARD expenses for travel , meetings , etc and audit their whole paper process that either commits money or expenses money . There is a smell here and it affects the whole IWK reputation until the smell is gone .
Peter S | October 1, 2017 |
One might suspect that some ‘sense of entitlement’ played a part in this matter.
Bob MacKenzie | September 29, 2017 |
It is.as you state,neither necessary or appropriate,to immediately fire the Board.
But I feel it is incumbent on the existing board to familiarize themselves with the duties obligations and powers entrusted to them,
They are not just “figureheads”
If they are not individually prepared to devote some time and effort to determining their duties then resign,
Their is no paucity of articles on their duties available on the net,
To start i refer them to
Volunteer.ca/management
If you cant stand the heat get out of the kitchen and let a real chef in
bill f | September 29, 2017 |