Originally Posted by
oblivia
The constant reference to "beancounters" as a threat to airline safety is a bit fanciful. It's not the accountants' fault if safety standards are insufficient.
If there are failings (the evidence isn't convincing) then the problem is regulation and enforcement. From food to finance, we have seen constant pressure on funding to regulators during the past few decades (not to mention the busting of unions). It wasn't beancounters who did this — it was right-wing ideologues.
A more apt user name there isn't. Ian W's response hopefully shed some light. In a competitive industry, and an industry wherein to remain in service one must earn revenue in excess of expenses or not exist, the cost of everything matters. Therefore, the bean counters are directed to analyze cost. The problem is for beancounters, not everthing pertaining to safe and effective ops can be numerically quantified to three decimal places. Sadly, between management and number crunches, that leaves
Safety Critical issues like training underfunded and under-resourced. Politics have nothing to do with it. Your point on regulation being lax also is a matter of cost, in terms of how many tax dollars are allocated to that function. That's another group of bean counters at work, right?