"People never cared to have receipts for the amounts they paid, but we always insisted on the receipts being given. Every pie was thus clearly accounted for, and I dare say the account books for the year 1894 can be found intact even today in the records of Natal Indian Congress. Carefully kept accounts are sine qua non for any organization. Without them it falls into disrepute. Without properly kept accounts it is impossible to maintain truth in its pristine purity.
M. K. Gandhi from "An Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments With Truth,"
1 comments:
As a former auditor (at the "Goverment Accountability Office," no less), I'm biased... but I would say that the quote points towards a more general need for accountability -- not necessarily just improving a management information system.
Such a system is only one tool of all the internal controls needed for proper accountability. You can't just have the system; you need the staff, policies, procedures, and an environment where those that information system is used regularly and properly.
Note the last line of the quote: "Without properly kept accounts it is impossible to maintain truth in its pristine purity." (emphasis added)
I'm thinking of my visit earlier this year to a rural self-help group. The women had an accountant keep their books -- and he didn't do them properly. The women had no idea because most were illiterate and they had no oversight procedures.
Post a Comment