A slush fund is a fund or account that is not properly accounted, such as money used for
corrupt or illegal purposes, especially in the political sphere. Such funds may be kept hidden and maintained separately from money that is used for legitimate purposes. Slush funds may be employed by government or corporate officials in efforts to pay influential people
discreetly in return for preferential treatment, advance information (such as
non-public information in financial transactions), and other services. The funds themselves may not be kept secret but the source of the funds or how they were acquired or for what purposes they are used may be hidden. Use of slush funds to influence government activities may be viewed as
subversive of the
democratic process.
In accounting, the term ''slush fund'' describes a
general ledger account of commingled funds to which all manner of transactions can be posted, with
debit
Debits and credits in double-entry bookkeeping are entries made in account ledgers to record changes in value resulting from business transactions. A debit entry in an account represents a transfer of value ''to'' that account, and a credit e ...
s and
credits cancelling each other.
Examples
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...
's "
Checkers speech" of 1952 was a somewhat successful effort to dispel a scandal concerning a slush fund of
campaign contributions. Years later, Nixon's presidential re-election campaign used slush funds to buy the silence of the "
White House Plumbers".
Etymology
The term ''slush fund'' was originally a
nautical term: the slush was the
fat or
grease skimmed from the top of the cauldron when boiling
salted meat. Ship officers would sell the fat to
tallow
Tallow is a rendered form of beef or mutton fat, primarily made up of triglycerides.
In industry, tallow is not strictly defined as beef or mutton fat. In this context, tallow is animal fat that conforms to certain technical criteria, includ ...
makers, with the resulting proceeds kept as a ''slush fund'' for making small purchases for the ship's crew.
[Garg, Anu. A.Word.A.Day mailing list, 2017-Mar-01. http://wordsmith.org/words/slush_fund.html]
See also
*
ISO 37001 Anti-bribery management systems
*
Group of States Against Corruption
*
International Anti-Corruption Academy
*
United Nations Convention against Corruption
*
OECD Anti-Bribery Convention
References
{{Corruption
Corruption
Financial crimes
Funds
Nautical terminology