It was with great enthusiasm that I read the OpEd that was just published in the Washington Examiner (10/26/10, Technology is key to achieving 21^st century transparency in government).  Representative Issa makes reference to how XBRL technology can be used to shine light in the dark recesses of government spending and reporting.

On occasion, we hear tales in the media of waste, fraud and abuse in our government.  Rep. Issa asserts that what we hear about is just the tip of the iceberg.  In order to get a truly accurate picture of misuse of government funds, we would need access to data that is buried deep in “complex, unmanageable bureaucracy.”

XBRL technology can, indeed, do for our government what it’s currently doing for publicly-traded companies.  Herding cats is never easy, but they eventually fall in line if you’re diligent. Can you imagine giving everyone access state and federal budgets?  Expense reports for our elected leaders?  Line-item breakdowns for each and every proposed expenditure?  Talk about accountability!

At present, our government is simply unable to track finances accurately or efficiently, therefore reporting relevant information, for the most part, is an exercise in futility.  It’s the stuff conspiracy theories are made of and talk show hosts exploit for ratings.  It might even be amusing if our country weren’t facing a $1.29 trillion budget deficit that adds to our national debt that has topped $13.6 trillion.

Bringing order to this chaos would be no easy undertaking, even within the context of implementing a system based on XBRL.  But it’s achievable, especially from the country that first put a man on the moon.  Some might say we even owe it to the global community in light of our recent financial missteps that rippled well beyond our borders.

Keep fighting the good fight for government transparency, Rep. Issa.  We need more politicians on both sides of the aisle willing to make some noise to garner support for government transparency that promotes true accountability.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 27th, 2010 at 2:17 pm and is filed under Transparency. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.