Who is Isaac, and how did he come to be?

 

“Good morning Kira!” “Well, hello Isaac! How’s my favourite customer?” A start of another workday, Isaac stops at his favourite coffee shop each morning on his way to the office; here, he gets his usual drink - an Americano straight up. Isaac used to corrupt his coffee with cream, brown sugar, and a hint of cinnamon; but since his visit to the Caribbean where he was introduced to good coffee, he no longer participates in such sacrilege. “Have a seat Isaac, and I’ll bring it to you!” “Thanks Kira.” As the barista attends to his drink, Isaac takes a seat at the closest available table where he starts to check the messages on his tablet.

 As a young man, Isaac envisioned a career in emergency services; however, he chose accounting because every industry needed them, which would improve his chances of remaining employed. His career started in private industry, but he eventually found his way into the government, first as a tax auditor, (a thankless job according to him), then moving into the federal public service as a finance officer.

 “Here you go Isaac!” Kira brings the drink to Isaac’s table, something she does not do for every customer.

 “Thank you, Kira!” Now set up for his morning, Isaac heads out through the doorway, and makes his way towards the office which is a block and a half down the street.

 “Good morning Jack!” Isaac calls out cheerfully.

 “Isaac! What’s happening my friend?” Jack has been the security guard at the building’s main entrance since he retired from the Army four years earlier. Although some argue receiving a military pension while also getting paid to work for the federal government is double dipping, Isaac defends it; he explains it is two completely different programs, and no one would question a retired soldier starting a second career anywhere else.

 “PER season again hey Isaac?” Jack questions.

 “How’d you guess?” Isaac responds as he approaches the front door of the building.

 “Your staff just came in with coffee and cookies!” laughed Jack.

 Isaac chuckles “not to worry my friend; if the staff don’t already know what their performance evaluation says before you give it to them, you’re doing something wrong!” As a supervisor for fifteen of his twenty-four years of public service, Isaac believes performance evaluation is an on-going process where the manager and employee have continuous dialogue; this means praising where warranted and correcting when required so everyone knows where they stand.

 “And what about your evaluation Isaac?” Jack inquires.  Isaac laughs, then walks away smiling as he heads to his office.

 Isaac had taken an assignment as a teacher at the government training centre for one year, and when he returned, he discovered Carly was his new boss - a person from another part of the organization, whom he previously had difficulties with regarding her spending. You see, as the Regional Comptroller, it was Isaac’s responsibility to keep the financial management practices in line with law and policy, and she was one of those managers who had difficulty with this concept. During this, the first year of working for Carly, the two had their ups and downs, but Isaac believes it will all work out. Of course, unlike Isaac who sends the draft evaluation to his employees well before the interview, Carly appears to be waiting until the last minute.

 “Good morning Isaac!” Nicole calls out cheerfully from her desk just outside his office door.

 “Good morning Nicole.”  Isaac stops by her desk for a quick morning chat.

 The administrative assistant for the section is always smiling and cheerful. “I have blocked the morning for the performance interviews Isaac, then you have yours with Carly at 2:00.” As you can tell, Nicole is not only pleasant, but well organized.

 “Your first meeting is with Holly at 9:00.”

 As the manager of the finance and procurement section, Isaac has three division heads who are responsible for the supervision of front-line staff; with this, he only needs to write the evaluations for the people that report directly to him, where they must review their respective employees. Isaac takes a sip of coffee and heads into his office to prepare for his morning meetings.

 “Good morning Holly!” Isaac smiles at his employee and begins the performance review with her. Isaac completes the first interview with the division head of budget management… after her, the head of accounting operations, then the procurement manager.

 Isaac finished the meetings with his employees, and the discussions turned out as expected. Because his employees receive feedback throughout the year and are given their performance reviews in advance, there are no unexpected surprises.  From there, he walked down the street to a small sandwich shop for lunch, and then returned to the office to catch up on his emails.

 It is now 2:00, and Isaac is beckoned into Carly’s office where he is looking forward to continuing his long-standing history of exemplary performance reviews. “You can go right in Isaac.” Brenda, the administrative assistant to Carly points towards the door.

 “Good afternoon Isaac. Please sit down.” Carly, who is sitting at her desk, points towards the seat across from her. As Isaac pulls the chair back and sits down, Carly takes a notepad and pen from her drawer, and places them beside a multi page document which is oriented face down on top of the desk. “How do you feel it went this year Isaac?” As is custom, Isaac is given the opportunity to share his thoughts first.

 “Well Carly, we had some challenges this year given the deficit and the new procurement program for our sites, but overall, I think it went well” Isaac responds.

 “Although you did some great work this year Isaac, there are some concerns.” Carly sits up straighter in her chair and starts to play with the pen on her desk.

 “What’s that?” Isaac questions, surprised by the idea that there are concerns about the way he has done his job.

 “Oh, come on Isaac; surely you know what I’m talking about?”

  Isaac looks intently at his supervisor. “No. Tell me.”

 Carly, who had been somewhat pleasant to this point starts to change her tone. “Isaac, we still have situations where you are going to national headquarters when you disagree with our decisions.”

 “If you’re referring to the purchases I questioned, that’s my job!” Isaac responds.

 “Your role is to advise Isaac; but once the decision is made, it’s your job to make the payment without question.”

 “Carly, we have been through this before!” Isaac is now getting upset.

 “Yes, we have Isaac; but it’s still happening!”

 Now Isaac is starting to lose his composure.  “What is my role under the financial management legislation Carly?!” The conversation escalates as there is clearly a discrepancy between what the two believe the role of the Regional Comptroller is; where Isaac believes it is to scrutinize and make the final decision on payments, which is articulated in legislation and his work description, Carly appears to believe it is to approve whatever she tells him to.

 “Just last month I got an email from the director telling me what a good job I was doing Carly. He even congratulated me on doing the right thing, and said we needed more people like me in the organization!”

 “I’m sorry Isaac, but I have his support on this!” Carly retorts.

 “There’s no way he could support this after what he wrote!”  Isaac sits back in his chair in disbelief. “You know I have a professional code of conduct I have to follow as well!”

 “Well, he does agree with me Isaac!  And as far as your professional association goes, they don’t give you a paycheque - we do!” Carly snaps.

 The situations the two are debating were several financial transactions put forward including purchases, contracts, payments to employees, and agreements with unions that violated the financial management legislation and polices of the federal government. In order to protect the public interest, a specific authority is placed on finance officers to only approve payments which follow these laws and policies; with this, there were several payments Isaac would not approve. Now, Isaac is being ‘Performance Managed’ for his actions; a program which can lead to dismissal.

 “It appears we’re not going to agree on this Carly.” Concerned he may say something to make matters worse, Isaac decides it is time to end the discussion; with this, he stands up and moves towards the door.

 “Where are you going Isaac?!” Carly demands.

  Isaac hesitates for a moment, but the combination of anxiety and standing up to quickly causes him to become lightheaded and disoriented. “I can’t…!” Isaac grasps the door frame to steady himself, and with the other hand he reaches for the doorknob. Without saying another word, Isaac walks out of the office.

 As a professional accountant, Isaac is bound by a code of ethics and conduct where he must follow laws and policies; unfortunately, many accountants are faced with situations where executives and managers make decisions outside of these, and accountants are faced with ethical dilemmas. Of course, this happens in both the public service and private sector, and it is situations like this where accountants must decide to either turn a blind eye on what is happening or leave. Often money and job security become deciding factors.

 Completely at odds with what just happened, Isaac decides to take the rest of the day off using compensatory time he accumulated at year-end. Twenty minutes later, he arrives at home.

 “Are you okay Isaac?” Having just returned early from work, Isaac’s wife Shawna knows something is not right as he does not even say hello as he walks down the hall toward the bedroom.

 Isaac is beside himself with what has happened today: Not only has he served the country for twenty-four years as both a soldier and a public servant, but he also volunteered for his community for a combined sixteen years as a firefighter and search and rescue member. Through everything he does he believes in doing the right thing and not bringing harm to anyone. This includes ensuring money is spent appropriately, income is reported, expenses are legitimate, and taxes are paid. This in addition to rappelling down cliffs at 3:00 AM to rescue injured people from wrecked vehicles… as a volunteer! Now with the actions being taken by his employer, Isaac feels as though he has been kicked in the stomach, and everything he did in his life was for not.

 After forty-five minutes of gathering his thoughts, Isaac emerges from the bedroom where he sits down and explains to his wife what happened that afternoon.

 “They’re performance managing me Shawna! I taught the Labour Relations Program at the school, and I know how it works - they are setting me up for dismissal!” The two continue their discussion about the situation and possible recourse options available to Isaac. “What I cannot believe is Paul praising me and then supporting this!”

 “You know what Napoleon said Isaac - those who flatter can just as easily slander!” Shawna responds.  Although she is trying to be supportive, she does not know how she can help in this situation.

 “Why would either be acceptable if he knows it’s my job Shawna?!” Isaac questions.

 The conversation takes a different direction.  “Can you go to the Integrity Commission Isaac?” Several years earlier the federal government put a program in place to protect employees like Isaac; often referred to as ‘whistle blowing’ it is supposed to give employees a ‘safe’ place to turn. Isaac had recently raised his concerns to the Chief Finance Officer for the government, and no one seemed to care about what was going on in Isaac’s department.

 “No Shawna; just like everyone else, they’ll take the department’s side without hearing mine!”

 The life of an accountant can be complicated: on one hand, financial statement users such as investors, owners, and authorities expect you to conduct your work with diligence and be accountable; but on the other, the same people want you to only apply the rules that suit them. It would appear the nation’s federal government is no different, and despite setting protections in place for people like Isaac, it was all a ‘smoke and mirrors show’ for the media.

 “I don’t know what to do Shawna! Isaac bursts out. I have twenty-four years of loyal service to the people, I am six years away from a pension, but I can’t keep doing this!” Isaac, clearly upset, storms out of the house, and makes his way down the street for a walk.