The newly elected mayor of Wherever noticed that in the recently enacted budget of that city’s General Fund, revenues exceed expenditures by $15,000. Later that year, after a hurricane caused a large amount of damage, she ordered the city’s finance officer to write a check for $15,000, on the General Fund, to an emergency relief fund. Because of the unexpected nature of the hurricane, no appropriation had been made to cover this transaction. When confronted by the press, she pointed out that the General Fund was only required under the balanced budget laws of the state to “break even” and that she could not, in good conscience, allow the city to retain idle monies when people needed help.

From an accounting standpoint, did the mayor do the right thing? From an ethical standpoint?