EXCELLENT POINT: "one problem many have trouble understanding is that core staff competencies such as budgeting -- how to reasonably project income & expenses may be missing from WBAI. Certainly, the CFO has not encouraged but has actively discouraged such competencies these past number of years." [From Listenerforums.net] Here is a suggestion I made to the WBAI Finance Committee a couple of years ago and was derided for suggesting it--an absurd idea, that none of the staff would comply with. Having noted that the budget was written in such a way that it was IMPOSSIBLE to see exactly how much each separate operation was costing (news, operations, membership, premiums, etc.), I suggested that WBAI do what was done at the hospital where I was on staff for 26 years: I and other department heads were required to submit separate budgets for each of our own departments, which in total (plus some central administration expenses) made up the total hospital budget submitted to Albany for approval (or amendment, as the case usually was), Department heads were held to projections they had made. It was their job to avoid spending more than they had budgeted. Indeed, if they tried to spend more, the requisition request was denied. In very exceptional cases, administration might authorize spending beyond what was budgeted, but the need to do so had to be very well documented and weighed against other needs to keep the whole hospital budget balanced. I was told --- ridiculous! these people are not accountants, they are RADIO people! Well, guess what: I was not an accountant either, but I had to develop a budget for my department (covering personnel, equipment, supplies, travel, etc.). The Recreation Department head was not an accountant either (his specialty was fun and games), but he had to develop a budget. Same with the Librarian, the heads of Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy, etc., etc. Maybe less equipment would "walk out of he door" if specific staff were accountable for budgeting its acquisition. Maybe fewer "consultants" would be required if its maintenance was entirely accounted for in one department's budget. Maybe overall there would be fewer "cost over-runs" for the entire WBAI budget if there were specific COMPONENT budgets in which deviations --- or attempted deviations --- could be promptly spotted and dealt with. --Frank LeFever