And right under their noses!

Transparency is the best way to improve governance, right? And what better way is there than the internet to do it? The development of website for corporations and government agencies has vastly expanded the information investors and citizens alike have. With that information we can hold executives and government officials to account. It just takes time to sort through all the data. So perhaps it isn't too surprising that the US Securities and Exchange eventually came across this nugget:

"SEC Charges Government Website Provider and Four Executives With Failure to Disclose CEO Perks." That was the headline of the item that detailed a case of a public company called NIC Inc., which managed websites for the government. NIC failed to disclose that it had paid the bills "for wide-ranging perks enjoyed by former CEO Jeffrey Fraser, his girlfriend, and his family – including vacations, computers, and day-to-day personal living expenses". NIC didn't say that it paid thousands of dollars per month for Fraser to live in a Wyoming ski lodge and commute by private aircraft to his office in Kansas. NIC falsely told investors that Fraser worked virtually for free from 2002 to 2005, and then continued to materially understate the perks that Fraser received in 2006 and 2007.

Source document: The SEC news release gives the details.