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CARE believes that the RA must authorise the executive to apoint a professional and independent Auditor General whose task would be to comment and report on our community's budget - and which thus "extends the financial responsibility for our community beyond one person, the Treasurer" (Sudane Erato).
. Anyone interested in CARE's internal debates and discussions on this topic can find it here: http://www.care-cds.com/forum/index.php ... sg54#msg54 .
I am in favor of any development which broadens responsibility for CDS financial affairs beyond one person (currently me). I've often proposed concepts like a finance committee to provide other eyes who can take the responsibility of looking at the numbers and sharing in the judgments.
I'm not sure I would call that function the "Auditor General". An auditor is a disinterested party who stands completely outside the "interest group" who's money is being managed, inspects the records, and certifies to that interest group that the records indeed fairly represent the financial position. To achieve an audit function over our records (which, again, would be something I would entirely welcome!) we would need to locate an individual or a firm, with certified and verifiable standards, and which has no other relation to the CDS. That seems unlikely.
Rather, the concept of the Finance Committee that I've previously mentioned seems more appropriate to our situation. Even if the Finance Committee were a committee of 2, myself and someone else, that would be hugely welcome, although I think a committee of 3 or 4 would be better.
This committee should *not* have political interests! It should be a semi-independent group which publically reports to the Chancellor and/or to the RA, whatever you wish. Its principle of operation is purely to manage the finances of the CDS in a manner in the best finacial interest of the CDS, with of course responsibility to comply with whatever charges its oversight entity should place upon it.
And, this function is *not* a public meeting. There are many issues in finances which deal with the personal lives of citizens, and it is not appropriate that these be publicized. Indeed, this is the real reason to have such a committee. Rather than placing the responsibility for finance on one person's shoulders, a few focussed individuals should properly share the confidential and technical issues of finance and translate these into the public issues of policy which the representatives of the citizens can then decide upon.
Sudane...............
Thank you for your insightful comments Sudane. In light of your suggestions, I'd be interested to know who you think should appoint the Finance Committee Members, and what different roles (if any) its members should have.
Please see the draft provisions of our new Finanace Committee Act here:
http://www.care-cds.com/forum/index.php ... sg55#msg55 ,
The administration of the community's money, in my mind, falls into basic topic areas: public policy and responsibile management.
1) Public policy is the realm of the elected representatives of the community. The issue of the tax rate, for example, (the amount we each pay in monthly tier), is an issue of policy, and should be decided by elected representatives. The finance committee might appropriately analyze the financial state of the community, and arrive at conclusions as to how a certain tax rate might impact future revenue flows, etc. It should then present such findings to the elected representatives as part of a budget proposal, or in some other advisory fashion. The elected representatives must then bear the final decision. This is intended as just an example.
2) Responsible management is the realm of appointed individuals who's sole focus is the financial health of the community. While it is surely true that there may be differences of opinion regarding the procedures of responsible management, these differences are *not* overlapping into the variety of political poles that may exist. The issues of responsible financial management are the same whether the political framework is left wing, right wing or anarchist. Any member of the finance committee should understand this as a condition of membership.
Another example. Should the elected representatives authorize lending of one sort or another, it should be the responsibility of the finance committee to set the terms and procedures of such lending. Lending presents a single charge to the committee: what is the best financial transaction for the community? I suggest that this is a technical determination. The elected representatives should have no part of this.
These are examples of the realms of public policy and responsible management when it comes to our money. There are many other issues, and I would expect that people who understand managing their money will inherently recognize the difference. I don't think that at the outset of the finance committee this can all be spelled out, but should rather evolve based on principles such as these.
After all, I have been unfortunately a finance committee of one for over 2 years now. I feel that a broadened finance committee is simply an expansion of an existing function... it is not really anything distinctly new.
This leads back to an attempt to answer your question. I'm not qualified to suggest who should determine members of this finance committee... frankly, i'd be fine if they self-selected. I'll leave that to you. I think that originally there was an understanding that the finance role fell within the jurisdiction of the old Guild, and that with the creation of the Chancellorship, it migrated to fall under that person's jurisdiction. That seems fine to me... I think I would find it equally OK to be an administrative committee of the RA. That's up to the law-makers.
I also don't really see any need for distinct roles within the finance committee at this time. Let me be even more radical. I'm not sure there is any real need for a Treasurer, except as a technical function. Let me make a parallel.
My alt, Rudeen, owns the two sims. That makes her the "Estate Owner". As the "primary personna avatar" of the RL person "controlling" Rudeen, I currently carry the responsibility of *doing* the actions that an Estate Owner must do. But, I am one equal citizen in our community (!@#$! oligarchies). It is the underlying foundation understanding of our community that I have no special authority; that my decision making authority is as a citizen among citizens. That makes the Estate Owner function one which is purely technical. There is *NO* authority residing in holding the Estate Owner position, except the authority to adhere to this non-authority. As much as I hate to say it, and I love my little sister dearly... Rudeen is an automaton.
I would suggest that with a good finance committee, the function of Treasurer should be *exactly* the same. Ideally, it should function by consensus, and any member should be equally qualified to speak for the group. Surely, there is considerable authority which would reside in such a group, just like as Treasurer (*unlike* Estate Owner) there is considerable authority placed in my hands. But that authority *entirely* rests on the confidence of the community that I will carry out my functions in a fashion purely dictated by "responsible management". If that is ever in question, I, or an expanded and fully functional finance committee, should be replaced.
Sudane.............
Sudane,
Thank you for your thoughtful comments above. They give us all a better understanding of how you view your position and task, and what you see as the strengths and weaknesses of the current system.
First, let me set out what the main objectives of the Finance Committee Act were:
1. to ensure that the financial power and burden in our community does not rest solely on one individual ( a point you raised on previous occasions);
2. to set up an internal vetting procedure for the draft Budget (two heads are better than one theory); and
3. to provide the RA itself with an independent evaluation of their own budget, after it has amended and /or redrafted it, but before it has adopted it.
While it is true that for the purposes of points 1 and 2 there need be no specific differentiation of function between FC members, having such a difference between a Treasurer who drafts the Budget and a Comptroller General who makes a written evaluation of it makes the process of consultation more open, accountable and accessible to the RA - who then, in their own drafting, take into account both the Draft Budget and the Budget Commentary. I would expect that as our community grows and budgets become more complex, the "Treasury" would indeed become a committee of 2 or 4 individuals functioning as you propose, with the Controller General providing independent feedback on the Draft Budget as it is being developed, before submission to the RA.
The third point is quite important from the perspective of the RA and of open, accountable, democratic government. The Comptroller General would have as task to comment on and critique the draft Budget of the RA - and this becomes a political matter, since citizens will ultimately decide in the voting booth whether the RA made the right decisions on the budget. The Comptroller General gives voters a professional independent standard by which to measure the actions of the politicians in this field.
To this extent, it is important to separate the functions of the Comptroller General from that of the Treasurer, so as to maintain an atmosphere of complete trust and confidence between the RA and the Treasurer, without having an purely electoral considerations permeating through.
If you think it necessary, we could amend the draft Bill and enlarge the Finance Comittee to 3 members: two Treasury members to function as you described, and a Comptroller General. This leaves two questions open:
1. Do you think it is necessary to have a 3 person Treasury at this stage of our development? and
2. how likely is it we will find the individuals with the requisite skill sets in our community?
[quote="michelmanen":tyfgxqkb] 1. Do you think it is necessary to have a 3 person Treasury at this stage of our development? and
2. how likely is it we will find the individuals with the requisite skill sets in our community?[/quote:tyfgxqkb]
Sadly, I can't really answer these questions directly.
Do I think it's *necessary*...? No, it's necessary to have a one person Treasury... someone has got to do it. A second person would be highly desireable. A third and fourth person would be great.
Are there people with the skills? Well, honestly, I had no skills when I started doing bookkeeping over 30 years ago. A huge amount of it is common sense. As you can tell from my monthly "explanatory treasurer reports" (which I regret not doing for the last few months), the issues are fairly easily explained. I have no problem at all explaining these to folks who may be unfamiliar with accounting. Honestly, any reasonably intelligent person with a solid grounding in common sense (and that's a required prerequisite) would be qualified.
Sudane....................
Thank you Sudane. I will propose that the CARE draft Bill be amended so that the Finance Committee Act include a minimum of three members - especially since you do kindly offer to pass on your knowledge and experience regarding bookkeeping generally and CDS issues in particular to the new members - as follows:
[b:3d5ceehu]1. The Chancellor will appoint, immediately after being elected, the members of an independent CDS Finance Committee (FC), subject to the advice and consent of the RA.
2. The FC will be composed of a Treasury comprising at least two members, the Comptroller General (CG) and any additiononal members as shall be deemed necessary from time to time for the orderly and efficient functioning of the FC.
3. The CG will consult with the Treasury during the budget drafting process and will offer written advice to the Treasury on the latter's draft Budget, before the draft Budget is presented to the RA. The Treasury will be at liberty to incorporate or not any and all suggestions of the AG in the draft Budget it presents to the RA.
4. The RA will consider, in a closed meeting, both the Treasury's draft budget and the CG's written advice and table its own, draft Budget Bill.
5. The CG will issue its public, written budget evaluation of the RA Budget Bill, focusing strictly on public finance issues.
6. The RA will chose to modify / not modify its Budget Bill accordingly, and pass it into law. The citizens will support / sanction the budget by their vote at election time.[/b:3d5ceehu]
But as we all know, the easy part is passing the legislation. The hard part is finding qualified volunteers (or even employees) to do the work. That's the real test of the executive - seeing that these things get done. -Pel