The Joy of Transparency

Ages ago we grouped together as the family, moved to tribe then to city, followed by state then nation. Now we are one global entity -- the world. How should we organize ourselves?

In the modern world collaborative teams seem to be the model. Whether nine members of a baseball team, a project team, or the U.S. Senate (I know -- collaborative is a stretch). Basically, the group is achieving much more than the individual ever could. We are not going back to demagogues and dictators. They may appear as attractive leaders starting out, but soon show their true colors as the egoists they are. Ego is being supplanted by consultation -- sharing ideas and knowledge. Letting personal opinion and belief give way to rationality and better ideas. And with today's problems, we need all of them we can get.

Take corporations. They may start with one or more entrepreneurs like Sergey Brin and Larry Page of Google; but when successful, especially in world markets, a Board of Directors is usually elected for governance and direction. In the U.S. the Chairman of the Board, oftimes also the President or CEO, carries a lot of weight. But boards, just like shareholders, are rebelling when necessary and changing policy or replacing their top management. They are responding to the interested parties -- the stakeholders. I never even heard this word until the late 1980s, but its become synonymous with terms like investors, shareholders and others. Some have more power, some less, but still -- power. They can speak out and be heard (in a free society). They can effect change in the corporation internally with their votes.

Take government. It seems that some leaders, representatives and "public servants" have gotten away from serving the public and the taxpayers, i.e. "doing the right thing", and "doing the thing right,"and have become self-serving. Be that as it may, government is composed of individuals acting within a committee, or bureau, within a division within a department. At one time New Jersey had 19 departments -- now its 15 (abolishing the Dept. of Energy circa 1990 was a huge mistake). Better organization and transparency is improving government. The NJ Open Public Records Act, whereby anyone can request state documents, and accessible online, was a good step even tho the legislature exempted itself. 

I'd still like to see my local government's CAFR, but they don't have one yet. They will - they'll be required to. The State of New Jersey has had CAFRs since 1987, and has recently started performance reporting. All governments will have to within the decade if they want the public's trust. (Budgets, as we all know, are meaningless -- it's the spending that counts.) Even one of my favorite professional organization, the Association of Government Accountants produces annual Performance Reports. However, even Trenton AGA took a year to implement proper policies for handling their funds and accounts.

Today, external organizations like AGA, GAO or Politifact and hundreds of others, are reporting on corporate and governmental activities at an astounding rate. Many of those organizations are doing so to expose the truth (relative) or to effect change that only affects them (lobbyists). Some are independent like the Government Accounting Office which is highly respected. Then there's special interest groups, putting their slant on the topic of the moment. And they are getting exposed. We are all in one or another, aren't we?

Think about reporting coverage at another level -- video cameras. Store and parking lot cameras are catching criminal acts on film. These persons are shown on the news and oftentimes arrests are made from anonymous tips.Wouldn't it be nice if white collar criminals could be identified so easily?

So transparency is growing in response to stakeholders and that means consumers, whistle blowers and the public.

Good thing it is. Now, if we could just get most other countries to do the same.

By Rodney Richards, NJ