ALLOCATING SCARCITY

November 5, 2015

In front of our office are posted large boxed frames of signage containing memorable words from Gerald Caiden and former President Manuel L. Quezon, on the role of accountants and auditors.  President Quezon demands the highest level of morality from the auditors.  Regarding the job of the accountant, these phrases struck the most familiar cord, “wherever there are scarce resources, there is a job for the accountant to do.”

I could not agree more.  Whatever organization I belonged to, parallel to all the paperwork of being an accountant are the pressures, headaches and heartbreaks one gets when trying to program disbursements within a limited budget.  Especially when I assumed as accountant in government, the paperwork and the pressure has doubled.  It would be understandable because in working for private companies, one is only accountable to the stakeholders of the organization and the regulatory agencies.  But in government, one is accountable to the whole nation, because the source of funds to pay for all disbursements in government service come from the people’s pockets—their hard-earned money that government is forcibly taking from them in the form of taxes.

I can understand the exasperation of people within the agency when their claims are not processed on time or their claims are reduced to the allowable amounts.  One must keep in mind though that the mandate of government service (especially the organization I belong to at the moment), is to guard the wealth of the nation.  Hence, one must prevent the funds from being spent on IUEEUs (irrelevant, unnecessary, extravagant, excessive, unconscionable expenditures).  And when the signage are placed side by side, one must understand that their principles are applicable to both professions too—when we demand the highest morality from auditors, and making sure that accountants do their job of not spending on IUEEUs, then we can also expect auditors to prevent IUEEUs from rearing its ugly head in their personal claims, and for accountants to maintain the highest level of morality.

Sad to say, in real life, in whatever part of the world, in whatever form of government and private organization, and even in many cases in the first world countries, it seems these principles have long been erased from the hallowed halls of the consciousness of the people from which they are demanded.

What remains true though is what Jesus Christ has said that the poor will always be here to say, in contrast to all the Millennium Development Goals being drafted, enshrined and espoused.  And when He said poor, He meant that in whatever age, in whatever situation, in whatever part of the world, and in whatever form of government and organization, resources will always never be enough to satisfy the needs of everyone.  Hence, there will most definitely be a job for the accountant to do.  And to make sure that these resources are allocated properly and to the utmost that it can do, we need to adapt former Pres. MLQ’s level of moral standard.  Because only when one can be impartial when it comes to the temptation of enriching one’s self quickly even at the expense of others, can we truly say that we have done our part in fulfilling the roles we have been called to play in life.