When the system is broken

While a lot of attention goes to Dingwall, Volpe and company, my bigger concern is where there's a genuine systemic problem rather than an individual's expenses not fully accounted for. And according to a recent audit reported by the CP, there's just such a problem at the Department of Fisheries and Oceans:

The exhaustive internal review of the department's $42-million annual bill for travel and hospitality found:

- Some employees attending foreign conferences stayed abroad after meetings ended, claiming expenses without any evidence they were actually doing government business.
- Staff at some meetings claimed meal allowances, even though meals were provided at the gatherings.
- Other employees used exorbitant exchange rates to make claims for foreign travel even though the rate they actually paid was lower...

Investigators also found numerous cases where travel was not pre-authorized as required, expense claims were missing receipts, and Treasury Board policies were being ignored or subverted.

"The majority of claims in all regions were missing pre-approvals, had incomplete supporting documentation, and had invalid or missing ... signatures," says the audit, referring to problems with hospitality claims worth about $1 million each year...

Only 16 out of 42 hospitality events were posted on the departmental website as required, suggesting widespread failure to obey the rules.

While it's difficult for any department to be 100% accurate and compliant in all areas, there should at least be a meaningful effort to get near that number. And there's absolutely no excuse for failing to meet either individual or event documentation requirements more than half the time.

What's worse, it doesn't look like any individual discipline will result from the audit. The article does mention future spot checks to verify reporting data, but it's hard to think that will be a meaningful deterrent when the audit itself hasn't given rise to any accountability...and when there's all too clearly an existing culture of non-compliance within the department.

The only way to change that sort of culture is through strong leadership sending a clear message that failure to follow the rules will have consequences. And while credit is due for the stricter standards originally, enforcement unfortunately doesn't seem to be a strong point for PMPM and company.