Focusing on finances:
Maria Grulich
and Michael Gehrisch
Over the past eight
months, charges of financial misconduct have racked three
convention and visitor bureaus, underscoring the urgency for
standard reporting measures within an industry that relies heavily
on tax dollars for existence.
At Florida’s Kissimmee Convention &
Visitors Bureau, where a May audit found significant lack of
controls over its annual $250,000 travel budget, interim director
Maria Grulich has moved swiftly to implement policies to mend
broken fences and ensure the CVB’s integrity remains intact.
“In the past, everyone [planned] their
own travel,” said Grulich. “From here on, we will have one in-house
person handle all travel, which means we will be able to track all
itineraries and spend.”
While the Kissimmee bureau’s travel
budget represents only 1.2 percent of its $20.5 million annual
budget, Grulich, who also is executive director of Osceola County’s
Economic Development De-partment, said she is taking the audit
findings seriously and plans to release a procedures guide in 90
days.
Among changes being implemented: All
employee American Express business cards have been replaced with
Visa cards that have specific spending guidelines tailored for the
bureau’s staff. In addition, staff will be required to submit a
report at the end of each trip detailing with whom they met and
whether they felt the trip was beneficial to the department’s
goals.
In other CVB news:
* Last December, the Palm Beach County
Convention and Visitors Bu-reau was thrown into turmoil when it was
alleged that former bureau controller Donna Duffer had forged 222
checks totaling $1.5 million, forcing the resignation of both the
bureau’s vice president of finance and its president and chief
executive officer.
* Earlier this year, Cali-for-nia’s
Fresno CVB was forced to scrutinize its operational policies after
a former bookkeeper, Deanna Gonzalez, was charged with embezzling
$56,000.
Michael Gehrisch, president and CEO of
Washington, D.C.-based Destination Marketing Association
International, said DMAI is focused on getting the message out to
its members that proper internal accounting practices are a top
priority. This month at its annual meeting, held in Pittsburgh, the
association offered for the first time a two-day course titled
Destination Accreditation and Performance Reporting. “These recent,
isolated events remind destination marketing organizations to be
vigilant and that due diligence is a necessity,” said Gehrisch.