Budget Performance Concealment

Concealment implies an intention to withhold or secrete information so that others entitled to be informed will remain in ignorance.  Concealment occurs when a person or persons substantially conceals budget performance information peculiarly within his own knowledge, or uses a report naturally calculated to lull the suspicions of residents so as to induce them to forego inquiry into a matter.

Full disclosure tells the story of what’s beneath the surface.  What you see is only what you see – there may be surprises hiding out of view.  Properly formatted budget reports are designed to help eliminate these unwelcome surprises and the recurring problem of governance fraud.

Indications of possible concealment:

• The Association does not prepare a monthly Operating Income Statement for residents.
• The monthly Operating Income Statement does not show current period and year-to-date variances for budget line items..
• The monthly Operating Income Statement is not footnoted to explain significant negative variances.
• The monthly budget performance is not reviewed by the Board in an open meeting.
• If there are Restricted Accounts and there is no monthly accounting for income flowing into the account and/or expenses flowing out of the account.
• The Reserve Account has no monthly accounting of money flowing into the account and/or money flowing out of the account.
• Homeowners receive vague responses to their Operating Income Statement inquiries.