Fraud, Abuse, or the System? A business man’s perspective

I write this blog on behalf of the majority of business leaders and employers who are decent law abiding citizens doing their very best to achieve success. The frustration, sadness and anger that we are all experiencing with the MP’s expenses scandal continues.

There is a small percentage of MP’s who apparently have committed fraud. If they were employees of any normal company they would immediately have been reported to the police, not to mention losing their job without compensation.

There is a small percentage of MP’s who chose not to claim any expenses at all. That is their right and we can all respect that decision. There is a further group who have abused the system and should be held accountable to repay every penny of their personal gain.

Now we come to the majority of MP’s who have claimed genuinely what they believed to be allowable and were told it is right and acceptable to claim. Here of course lies the problem as we all know. If you create a system that not only allows but encourages people to claim expenses with such a broad remit they most certainly will. For goodness sake it is only human nature to take what is offered regardless as to whether it is taxpayers’ money. As it would be exactly the same in business with any employee. Most employees follow the rules as laid down by their employer. In business most expense claims are checked and of course some are rejected. Just normal business practice.

So the media and the press journalists, who in most cases don’t understand or don’t want to understand, and should lay off beating up those parliamentarians who live by the system. Yes of course the system is wrong. Yes I accept that the parliamentarians themselves created the system. In business we all get our systems wrong and our reward mechanisms have to be changed, improved and developed. In my previous blogs I have said that the salaries are too low to attract the quality of MP’s that we would dearly like to have leading the country. And of course it is wrong for them to stop having either income or involvement from other sources. This, as we all know, builds a far greater knowledge and experience.

The Solution

1. All indications of dishonesty or fraud – let the police deal with

2. Each and every personal gain from expenses should be repaid immediately and I MEAN immediately. Seven days or serve them a writ.

3. Put into place an ethical salary and expense system that all of us in business have to deal with every day of our lives.