This falls into the category of "we know it goes on, but you’ve got to be kidding." To be more precise, the subject is exaggerating a bit on employee expense forms; the "kidding" part is the ridiculous lengths some people go to try and get non-business expenses paid for.

Not to be "Mr. Goody Two Shoes," but that common exaggeration part, when you look a little closer at it, is really like stealing. No, it’s not swiping the candy bar from the convenience store when the clerk isn’t looking. But at an age when we’re supposed to know better, it is trying to take something (money) from your employer that doesn’t belong to you under those circumstances.

Anyway, Robert Half Management Resources conducted a recent survey of chief financial officers. The question: Most unusual things you’ve seen on expense reports; the answers: pretty incredible.

Here’s a sample, with a larger list in the company’s press release:

• Cosmetic surgery
• Lottery tickets
• Pet food
• A trailer rental for a family reunion
• A teepee
• A person lost his personal cell phone somewhere in the office, so he submitted the cost of a new one
• A golf trip for the employee and his three friends
• Video game console
• Hot tub supplies

With recognizable company names from Warsaw to Bloomington and spots in between, most people probably realize that Indiana is a player in the medical devices industry. A new study, though, reveals we might be a bigger player than many realized.

From Hearts to Hips: Indiana’s Leadership in Life Sciences was recently released by BioCrossroads. High economic output, exports and employee wages well above the state average are all part of the mix.

The medical devices industry is one of Indiana’s most valuable economic assets employing over 20,000 people and generating more than $10 billion of annual economic output. Today, the medical devices sector accounts for more than 40 percent of the jobs in the state’s life sciences industry, placing Indiana as the fifth largest state in percentage of medical technology industry employment.

And in 2010, Indiana’s medical device companies manufactured more than $2 billion worth of exports, or approximately $100,000 per employee. The industry provides high-paying jobs with the average employee earning $60,000 annually, more than 56 percent higher than the state’s average private sector worker.

“From small towns to larger cities, the economic impact of the medical devices industry is significant and is well-distributed throughout the state,” said David Johnson, president and CEO of BioCrossroads. Major companies such as Biomet, Boston Scientific, Cook Medical, DePuy, Medtronic, Roche Diagnostics and Zimmer are either headquartered or maintain major operations within the state and develop a wide variety of medical devices for from cardiovascular to urological to diagnostics and orthopedics.

“This report is proof that Indiana’s medical devices sector is robust and resides on a solid foundation that positions us well for future growth,” added Johnson. “There are still many external factors like the economic, regulatory and health care reform environment that pose real challenges for this industry.”

The report delves into external challenges the industry faces today. In addition to the current economic conditions that have lowered the demand for some medical devices, the industry faces even bigger challenges to overcome in the next decade including:

• A rapidly changing health care market

• Tax policies that discourage innovation

• Increasing regulatory uncertainty

• A shift to overseas production and expansion to overseas markets

• Technological changes requiring more worker education

• Increasingly competitive global market.

OK, it’s already a little more difficult to get out of our downtown Indianapolis parking garage. The areas to the north and east of Lucas Oil Stadium are currently filled with more barricades, scaffolding and lift trucks than one can (almost) imagine. And congestion should soon reach nearly unprecedented levels.

Bring it on! Yes, there are going to be a few inconveniences associated with Indianapolis hosting Super Bowl XLVI. But that’s like a tiny, temporary pimple on the face of the most beautiful woman or handsome man in the world. (OK, I struggled with that analogy, but you get the picture).

The attention of the nation and world will be focused on our city and state on Super Sunday and the days preceding it. Hoosiers should embrace the moment — and enjoy it. Most out-of-town guests will not arrive until February 2 or so; the first few days (starting Friday) are an opportunity for all of us to take part in what could be a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

You can check out all the Super Bowl details for yourself. But as information continues to become available on the wide variety of concerts, programs, events, special activities, etc., I am convinced (in a purposeful mixing of metaphors) that we’re going to hit a home run. Indianapolis and Indiana are going to simply wow the National Football League, the fans, other visitors and anyone who is paying attention.

Once-in-a-lifetime may turn into a repeat performance a few years down the road. But don’t miss out this time around. And I close with practicing my closing line during my volunteer interactions with guests: Have a Super Day!

Far, far too many times criticism of K-12 education is seen as an attack on teachers. In the vast majority of cases, it’s not the educators in the classroom (or anywhere in the school building for that matter) who are standing in the way of what is in the best interests of students.

Consider these recent cases from around the country (courtesy of the Education Action Group):

• For one Michigan educator, the annual costs of “non-membership” in the local, state and national teacher unions total $544.28. Andrew Buikema has been trying to leave the union since last spring, when he realized that union leaders were uninterested in helping the district control costs, even in the face of a multi-million dollar deficit.

 
“They keep asking for more and more, even though the school district can’t afford it,” he told EAG. “They’re concerned about taking care of the adults and have no consideration for the kids. I don’t want to be part of an organization that says one thing and does another,” he said.   

The union responded to his resignation request last month by sending approximately 150 pages of documents. The upshot of all those documents is this: Buikema can technically quit both unions, but he must still pay them $544.28 in “service fees,” which equals 67.7 percent of a normal union membership.
 

• These days a lot of school budgets are being held together by the accounting equivalents of bailing wire and duct tape. But one Pennsylvania school district is so broke that it needs the state to provide the wire and the tape.

The Chester Upland School District began this week with only $100,000 in its savings account, and had no way of meeting its $1 million payroll – that is, until a judge ordered the state to give the district a  $3.2 million advance in its allowance.

The money will allow the teachers to be paid and the lights to remain on, at least for a few more weeks. The district is on track to be $20 million in debt by the end of the school year.

Since 2006, Chester Upland’s enrollment has dropped by almost 1,000 students. During that same time, the district has increased its workforce by 145 employees and its budget by $28 million.

• Florida’s Marion County school district drew national headlines last summer when it announced that it was switching to a four-day school week as a way to save money. 

Other school officials took a more conventional route by laying off teachers and cutting student programs, all the while blaming Gov. Rick Scott for underfunding Florida’s public schools.

Now comes a report that finds 946 school employees in the Sunshine State earned at least $100,000 in 2010. That’s up 818 percent from 2005, according to the Foundation for Government Accountability.

The foundation also finds the percentage of non-school employees who earn at least six-figures has increased by only 7 percent during that same period.

 “During these five years, you have flat student enrollment, the biggest recession since the Great Depression and skyrocketing six-figure salaries – that adds up to a raw deal for Florida parents and taxpayers,” says Foundation CEO Tarren Bragdon.

Ask the professionals in the middle of federal health care reform their opinions about the future impacts and the answers are downright scary. In a new survey, doctors fear both short-term and long-term declines in the quality of care, while costs will only continue to increase. The National Center for Policy Analysis concludes:

America’s doctors have conducted a full examination of the president’s health reform law, assessing it in a number of variables, and have concluded that it will fail to live up to many expectations and will aggregately hurt consumers in the short and long runs.  Few people know more about the health care system than doctors working on the frontlines.

Policymakers should pay heed to their indictment of the Affordable Care Act and revisit the disastrous law, says Sally Pipes, president and CEO of the Pacific Research Institute.

• Nearly two-thirds of doctors expect the quality of care in this country to decline, according to a new survey from Deloitte.
• Nearly seven of every 10 doctors believe that medicine is no longer attractive to America’s "best and brightest."
• Seventy percent of doctors believe that long wait times will plague emergency rooms.
• Further, 83 percent of physicians foresee increased wait times for primary care appointments.

And doctors did not stop at criticizing the quality of care that health reform will deliver — they also addressed its likely impacts on the cost of health care.

• While Obama pledged $2,500 in health insurance savings for the typical American family, 90 percent of doctors believe that insurers will raise premiums for employers and individuals.
• This argument is supported by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO), which estimates that premiums will actually rise for families in the non-group market by about $2,100.
• Richard Foster, the Chief Actuary of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, concluded that American spending on health care through 2019 will be $311 billion higher than if the law had never passed.

Many of these results stem from two large impacts of the law: shutting down health care facilities and sharply increasing demand as it extends coverage to millions of people.  Doctors respond to this latter "benefit" by pointing out that coverage counts for little if patients are unable to see doctors due to increased demand.

In the last two issues of BizVoice magazine, we’ve touched on the fact that there are no nuclear power facilities operating in the state of Indiana. And that fact is true.

While we’ve stated that a nuclear plant in Michigan (the Donald C. Cook Nuclear Plant just north of Bridgman, Michigan or 25 miles north of the Hoosier border) supplies Northwest Indiana with a small portion of nuclear power, we didn’t tell the whole story. The Indiana Michigan Power facility actually sends 80% of its 2,200 megawatts to Indiana.

That 80% of the 2,200 MW (about a third of the company’s total generation in Indiana) "assists with our coal, hydro and wind facilities in providing power to our roughly 500,000 customers in Northeast Indiana, East Central Indiana and the South Bend/Mishawaka areas in addition to selling to wholesale customers throughout the state."

Thus, the nuclear facts are now in order. And, who knows, nuclear may one day become a bigger part of the energy mix in Indiana and beyond.

What did you do Monday to honor the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King? With the holiday providing a day of respite from picketing the Statehouse, right-to-work opponents decided to focus in part on this blog and "influence" (we’re supposed to stay away from negative words) the poll question asking whether respondents support RTW.

Through Sunday, the "yes" votes were 65% with about 300 total votes cast. By 5 p.m. Monday, there were nearly 1,000 votes with 79% or so on the "no" side. Quite an amazing reversal of fortunes, huh?

Although the admittedly unscientific poll is supposed to be one vote per person, it’s no secret that one can work around that caveat without too much effort. Congratulations to union advocates for a strong social media campaign, driving large numbers of people to vote (early and often as they used to say in Chicago). Leading the way, however, was the person who either found an automated way to impact the results or had little else to do on a Monday afternoon, voting about 100 times himself or herself in a short period of time.

Ingenuity gets an A; democracy a failing grade. 

With the poll removed for obvious reasons, attention has turned to commenting on various blog posts that explain the good aspects of individuals having the choice of whether they wish to join a union, etc.

For those pushing that no business should have to pay dues to belong to the Indiana Chamber, about 5,000 companies each year voluntarily pay dues while many others throughout the state do not. All businesses benefit from many of our efforts. If we do our job well, many will retain their membership or become new supporters.

Thanks for contributing to the debate; let’s hope just that takes place at the Statehouse this week as lawmakers make the determination on whether Indiana should become the 23rd right-to-work state.