[BIP-742] Monthly Spending Accountability Framework for Balancer DAO

Governance General Proposal
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Abstract

To strengthen cash flow forecasting and enhance financial transparency within the Balancer DAO, this proposal mandates monthly spending reports from all Service Providers and Grantees. Building on the existing standards outlined in [BIP-702], this initiative introduces a structured approach to monthly expenditure reporting. Each SP and Grantee will be required to submit a detailed monthly breakdown of their effective spending through a standardised form. This addition aims to support the DAO’s financial visibility and resource allocation.

Motivation

As the Balancer ecosystem grows, so does the need for precise financial oversight and accountability among SPs and Grantees. Effective monthly spending reports will enable the DAO to manage resources more proactively, aligning them with protocol goals and ensuring financial stability. Additionally, this requirement complements the DAO Financial Reporting activities undertaken by karpatkey, as stipulated in [BIP-648], providing them with consistent, up-to-date data on spending patterns across the ecosystem. By enforcing this accountability standard, Balancer DAO seeks to protect the ecosystem’s resilience and support its ongoing growth in a data-informed, transparent manner.

Specification

Under this proposal, SPs and Grantees will be required to submit a monthly breakdown of their effective spending. The report will adhere to the following specifications:

Monthly Reporting

  • SPs and Grantees are required to submit their monthly expenditure reports during the first week of every month, covering spending from the previous month.
  • A standardised reporting form will be provided to streamline submissions. This form will include all necessary details about data storage, retention, and management.

Transparency and Public Reporting

  • Aggregated insights from the submitted reports will be published monthly to provide the community with an overview of ecosystem-wide spending trends.
  • Individual reports will remain confidential and will not be shared unless specifically authorized by the respective SP or Grantee.

Enhanced Financial Oversight

  • The aggregated data will form the basis of financial updates shared with the community. This initiative aims to ensure transparency, accountability, and alignment with DAO goals.
3 Likes
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Thanks for the thorough proposal. I’m overall supportive of the initiative, as we have been struggling to get real-time updates from multiple SPs as our ecosystem grows decentralized. I would, however, keep tabs on the overhead this might bring (on top of other changes introduced in BIP-702) and reiterate in our regular ecosystem council meetings to maybe re-evaluate in three or six months. In any case, kudos for taking the initiative for transparency and thoughtful budget spending across the DAO.

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As someone who had to make forecasts in the past I really value this framework. We only know how much our burn is in terms of proposal numbers but not what the actual spent is. The Maxis are a great example: we only utilize a fraction of our discretionary budget at times.

Agree with @0xDanko here. We should strike a balance of not causing too much overhead for SPs while still aiming for full cost transparency in the DAO.

Overall supportive of this initiative!

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I agree that it will be great to see an aggregate view on spending across the DAO. One side note, the template link seems to be guarded from public view, it would be useful to open that per-missioning up.

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https://snapshot.org/#/balancer.eth/proposal/0xdb038ae789a9d5e1f43a641c5c72bca1a29739f443564c67bff33a9f122c2d69