Re: [ga] Re: [NA-Discuss] Open Letter on ICANN Non-Openness

[Karl Auerbach <karl@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Ross Rader wrote:

> I'd be interested in seeing a calendar list of all of these sorts of 
> things that ICANN supports with funding.
ICANN's accounting systems are not well suited to handle this kind of 
reporting.  And even if they were, apparently there have been periodic 
changes that would make it difficult, perhaps impossible, to do 
year-to-year comparisons.
The Westlake report made as part of the at large review mentioned this 
weakness.
And people still wonder why, when I was a board member, I wanted to look 
at the raw general ledger and had to fight for 18 months to get that look.
What was surprising was that, after ICANN's tooth and nail resistance, 
there was really nothing to hide.  There were the normal routine kinds 
of accounting weakness - vague chart of accounts, expenses without 
receipts, etc - but nothing that wasn't forgivable and typical of an 
organization then only a couple of years old.  What is surprising is how 
long it is taking ICANN to redress this weakness.
I have been told that ICANN *is* instituting a new cost accounting 
process.  We can hope that it is better and lasts long enough to provide 
year-to-year reports and that its chart of accounts is precise enough 
(and that it is honored enough) so that similar costs are always 
recorded in the same way.
As I mentioned the other day during the phone conference with the NARALO 
folks, there is some sympathy with the idea of making funds available 
directly to the edge communities for them to use in ways that they feel 
best fit their needs.  However, as I suggested, there is concern that 
those edge communities establish adequate controls and accounting to 
assure that the money is used within the scope in which it is given. 
Notice that I said that the establishment of those controls would be 
instituted by the edge communities - I intend that to be a *big* nudge, 
nudge, wink, wink.
                --karl--