In the current corporate responsibility environment, board
members should be particularly sensitive to the propriety (both
actual and perceived) of their individual and collective spending
and reimbursement practices. This is important, in particular,
following the high profile action by South Carolina
Governor Nikki Haley to request the trustees of the
Medical University of South Carolina to repay funds previously
reimbursed by the University for hotel, dining and similar
meeting-related expenses. While the South Carolina focus was on
state-owned facilities, the same concept could easily be applied by
state charity officials to nonprofit health systems.
The Governor’s action followed the investigative report by
a Charleston newspaper that, over the last several years, the board
had incurred over $560,000 in food, beverages and hotel expenses.
The Medical University’s board chair ordered an investigation
of the board’s spending practices and the state inspector
