Description: The Nova Scotia Auditor General, Michael Pickup,  has announced his office will be examining  operations at the IWK Children’s Hospital in Halifax. The AG’s interest was piqued by a disclosure that former hospital CEO Tracy Kitch had a number of issues with her expense claims. This focus on high-ranking public officials reminded observers of previous AG Jacques Lapointe’s audit into expense claims by provincial MLAs, work that resulted in criminal charges against four of these elected representatives. Lapointe’s work was preceded by a similar audit in Newfoundland and Labrador by then Auditor General John Noseworthy. See for instance http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/third-mha-comes-forward-in-n-l-audit-scandal-1.569966

Date: September 20, 2017

Source: ctvnews.ca

Link: http://atlantic.ctvnews.ca/iwk-audit-reminiscent-of-n-s-mla-expense-scandal-of-2010-1.3599124

Discussion Points:

1) Why do these expense scandals seem to keep happening from time to time? Why do people in positions of power end up treating public money like their own?

2)  What type of audit would Mr. Pickup’s staff be performing here?

3) What type of internal controls might an organization put in place to prevent or detect this type of problem?