Here’s how it works. Let’s say you’re a bureaucrat in The Parks Service. (Or, the school system, or the public transport, etc.) Your agenda is to provide service to your constituents. If you report how much money you actually have, politicians higher up the food chain swoop down and take the money. So, you hide it inside the accounting mechanisms under your control. I did the same thing as a manager in a company. I needed to upgrade computers so I could finish the contracts I was responsible for. I piece-parted them under a “repairs” account at a much higher price than if I’d been allowed to go out and buy them. Had my boss known he’d have taken the money as he got to keep a tiny portion of the unspent budget as part of his personal bonus. (BTW, he usually bought a new car when he got his yearly bonus.) The fact that the company wouldn’t complete the contracts was irrelevant in his personal accounting.
” Your agenda is to provide service to your constituents.”
Ok. You see where you went wrong, there?