public in order to fulfill their duty of accountability. Many governments are engaging in ‘Open
Data’ to improve transparency and accountability.
Open Data offers government data to citizens, the private sector, and other non-governmental
organizations to freely use and republish without copyright and patent concerns. The government
hopes users can leverage the data by developing innovative applications and services to address
citizens’ demands in a value-added way; similar to the concept of Open Source software.
Despite this new initiative for increased transparency and accountability, the scrutiny from external parties continues to place excessive pressure on management to control operations. It is the
role of the governing body, such as the board of directors or trustees, to provide effective oversight, ensuring they are well informed of operations and develop a policy for routine and timely
performance evaluation.
Since board members are typically hired on a voluntary basis (i.e. no compensation), they tend to
lose sight of their critical oversight role and become easily distracted resulting in “effective governance… [to be] a rare and unnatural act.”3
When this oversight fails, as shown in the ORNGE scandal discussed below, the public loses
confidence in not only the organization involved, but also NFPOs and the public sector as a
whole. External constituents will have a heightened sensitivity to the operating effectiveness and
results of these organizations, increasing the potential demand for CPA assurance services.
Currently, many organizations receive consulting services from non-CPA firms over management compensation, as this is an area of high external scrutiny. The board must ensure compensation is effective (aligns employees’ g