It’s never easy hearing how screwed up you are. And it makes it even more difficult when the person setting you straight is your boss.

On Monday, the Town of Ferriday, La., got such a reprimand from its &uot;boss&uot; in the form of a not-so-easy-to-swallow pill of an audit report.

The report from the State Auditor’s office showed a long list of problems from housekeeping issues such as improper tracking of traffic tickets and strange accounting practices to lax bill collecting and violations of bond agreements.

Now a lot of people just hate the idea that &uot;big brother&uot; is watching – regardless of who &uot;big brother&uot; actually is.

But what makes it particularly difficult to take is when you get caught red-handed.

From initial reports it looks as though many of the infractions may simply be a case of either ignorance or laziness on the part of those involved.

Whether or not criminal charges will be filed later remains to be seen.

For now, what taxpayers should be concerned with is how the town handles the audit.

Some of the findings show that town workers haven’t been good stewards of taxpayers’ money – and that is a big part of their jobs.

The fallout from the audit report will continue in the coming weeks as we learn more details of the report and, more important, what the town’s response will be.

Everyone is allowed a few screw-ups in life, but the real test of character is how one moves past them.