On 22/10/2013 17:49, Daniel Stolpe wrote:
Well, you know, it doesn't surprise me that much, considering the employees talking about the NCC as a company while it in many ways is everything but a company. I think it has many similarities with a government entity. People do a lot of divese things and nobody is responsible for the financies. (Axel just goes to Nigel and says "I need 20 millinon euros next year, and then the board suggest a membership fee that will cover the expenses and we are done).
Since I got mentioned by name, perhaps the list won't mind if I respond to this one. In actual fact the board drags Axel over the coals every time he proposes a budget. Every item on the budget is debated and in many cases reduced. Axel has a personal objective (with real personal implications) to reduce per member spending, year on year and to bring expenses in below budget. That's one reason why the expenses are consistently falling. Every extra staff position is identified and debated before making it into the budget. It normally takes 2 or 3 iterations to come to a final budget, and only then will the membership fee be proposed. If the community thinks that the board just rubber-stamps the NCC's management decisions, then I'm afraid they are much mistaken. In addition to that, the NCC generates a monthly board report, running to 20 pages or more, which the board reads through and picks over. Between us, we've got pretty good at spotting anomalies and Axel knows better than to try (not that he would, of course). All the best Nigel