ABSTRACT
Having examined the history, development and external environment of the GSOs we turn our attention to their internal processes. The GSOs are reticent about disclosing their internal affairs. Very few expose their accounts to conventionally accepted audit standards. FIDE (chess) and the International Triathlon Union (ITU) are two which do, while the unaudited figures previously provided by the IOC leave much to be desired (Brewer, 2001, pp. 2-3). Only recently have FIFA and the IOC begun to release audited accounts. Given the absence of full disclosure, analysis of these organisations becomes detective work. For example, when The Economist’s Intelligence Unit examined F1, Bernie Ecclestone and their relationship with the FIA (The Economist, 2000a,b), it was forced to rely on clues and hints that were either unavoidably or fortuitously available rather than clear open statements. Nevertheless these sometime glimpses through the opaque exteriors of the GSOs are quite telling. When they occur, the observer has to piece together a puzzle of what has happened and deduce its meaning by a combination of evidence, logic and surmise.
