In researching tonight’s show on political accountability, I came across an article in The Globe and Mail, thoughtfully forwarded to me by my colleagues Daniel Kitts and Meredith Martin, which chronicled some of the worst expense account offenders of the past few years. Some of the abuses are downright comical.

Ms. Pilar O’Leary used to work in Washington D.C., as the head of the Smithsonian Latino Center. Her abuse: she once hired a limo to drive her across the National Mall. It’s tough to argue with that one, especially considering she was the head of a non-profit organization.

This next one is my favourite: Six Barclays Capital investment bankers racked up a $62,000 (U.S.) tab at a restaurant. At lunch. That’s got to be the ultimate example of: “We’ll have the most expensive bottle on your menu.” What I want to know is who signed the bill using the company card. That’s chutzpah, right there.

There’s more on the list: a former Stanford University president expensed $7,000 bed sheets, which I imagine must have been quite pleasant to sleep on; and Germany’s Deutsche Bank last year asked its employees, via company memo no less, to stop expensing call girls and adult TV channels.

Make sure to check out the full article from HRWorld, which The Globe and Mail referenced, to read the falls from grace suffered by those who abused their powers.

I also found another interesting article while doing my research; this one from TIME Magazine, dating all the way back to Aug. 29, 1960, called “SELLING: The Expense-Account Society.”

Some quotes:

After 30 years in the executive suites of the nation's eighth largest steelmaker, [Clarence B.] Randall, 69, believes that "this orgiastic abuse of the expense account is a spectacular and alarming trend, participated in by enough companies and individuals to put all of us upon caution for the good reputation of businessmen as a class."

Some more from the article:

Because expense accounts are legal business deductions, it is the taxpayer who splits the check. "Lights would go dim along the Strip in Las Vegas," says Randall, "and chorus girls would be unemployed from New York to Los Angeles if it were not for that great modern invention, the tax deduction." Public indignation over expense-account abuses is rising, he says, and "may be the next spectacular issue for the politicians"—unless U.S. business sees the credit-card myth for what it really is and starts to put its own house in order.

It just goes to show, some things never change. Almost 50 years later, the debate rages on. What do you think – is it time to abolish the expense account? Even at - aghast! - the cost of Niagara Falls, our own miniature Las Vegas Strip?