MSP Accounting - Simplicity - ICBC Example
Here's how a reasonable, efficient, and transparent accounting system works. The example is another provincial crown corporation - ICBC - the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia.
Last week I had the windshield on my vehicle replaced. I paid the deductible and the glass shop is collecting the rest of the cost from my insurance provider. ICBC sends me a summary of the invoice, and requests that I contact them if I have any concerns. They want to be sure I am happy with the work that was done, but most of all, they want to be sure the billing is legitimate! They don't ask for an acknowledgement from me, but assume that if I do not respond that everything is above board and they can go ahead and pay the vendor.
Granted that this is an extra procedure, and there is a cost attached, but for most people these days the whole process could be managed electronically and the cost effectively minimized as a programming function rather than mailed documentation. Even with the mailed hard copy, there is likely no human interface in the ICBC process, and the impact of the transparency achieved is obvious.
Moving through the BCHRT process is excruciatingly slow, and the next stage, with partial victory for the system brought a small measure of encouragement.
