Cover Your Ass
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rude slang To act in order to avoid blame or responsibility for something or prevent oneself from experiencing negative consequences. I immediately covered my ass by saying that I wasn't home when the puppy got out. Politicians don't care about the outcome of the vote, they just care about covering their asses.
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2015 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017
sent. & comp. abb. Do what is necessary to protect yourself from discovery or criticism. (Usually objectionable.) CYA when the shit hits the fan.
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions Copyright © 2006 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
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Will Kenton has 10 years of experience as a writer and editor. He developed Investopedia's Anxiety Index and its performance marketing initiative. He is an expert on the economy and investing laws and regulations. Will holds a Bachelor of Arts in literature and political science from Ohio University. He received his Master of Arts in economics at The New School for Social Research. He earned his Master of Arts and his Doctor of Philosophy in English literature at New York University.
"Cover your ass" refers to a tactic used by workers and organizations to share or divert blame or provide a disclaimer should something go wrong. "Covering your ass" is usually done in big projects where an employee may choose to avoid taking credit for doing a critical part of the project just in case it goes bad. It may entail going back to "cover the bases" thereby checking one's work. It may also involve the action of protecting oneself by anticipating potential problems and addressing them beforehand, either with a warning or corrective action.
Put simply, to cover one's ass is to diffuse responsibility. The euphemism "cover your ass" may be considered vulgar by some, so there are a number of substitutions. They include the acronym "C.Y.A.," "cover your butt," "cover your rear," or "cover your actions." It may also be referred to as "posterior protection."
Individuals "cover their asses" to avoid possible criticism for a failure or an unforeseen problem in a project or task. The tactic may also be used to avoid or mitigate legal action or other possible penalties. Covering one's ass is most frequent in highly regulated or bureaucratic organizations in which there exists the possibility for unforeseen criticism or scrutiny due to several layers of (often redundant) oversight. It may also occur when a project is especially large or complex and requires the work of many people working independently and/or far from one another. In such cases no one person can have a full view of the project and participants may seek to limit their liability for things that are out of their control.
Cover your ass, also commonly referred to as "C.Y.A" is a strategy used by workers or employees to diffuse responsibility to avoid possible future criticism or responsibility for a failed or potentially liable project.
It is most commonly used in highly-regulated and bureaucratic organizations or in projects where people work independently and/or far from one another.
In some instances, an effort to cover one's ass may be misinterpreted and a genuine warning may be ignored.
"Cover your ass" in the context of a bureaucracy is defined by language expert William Safire in Safire's Political Dictionary as "the bureaucratic technique of averting future accusations of policy error or wrongdoing by deflecting responsibility in advance."1
There may be many strategies used to cover one's ass. For example, if the acceptance or rejection of a crucial project relies on your forecast of cash flows for future years, you may include a footnote that your estimates were based on data provided by another employee in case your forecasts are completely wrong. This practice is often frowned upon as potentially "throwing your colleague under the bus."
Sometimes, an effort to cover one's ass may be misinterpreted and what is a genuine warning may not be heeded. In many organizations, what is normal paperwork, recordkeeping or quality control may be considered a formal way of "covering one's ass."
For example, sometimes accountants escape responsibility for fudging or reporting wrong numbers by providing disclaimers or conditions to the numbers. In some instances, the balance sheets also contain statements that are a warning detailing problems with the numbers.
Investopedia requires writers to use primary sources to support their work. These include white papers, government data, original reporting, and interviews with industry experts. We also reference original research from other reputable publishers where appropriate. You can learn more about the standards we follow in producing accurate, unbiased content in our editorial policy.
William Safire. "Safire's Political Dictionary," Page 163. Oxford University Press, 2008.
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The PDCA Cycle, which stands for Plan-Do-Check-Act, is a problem-solving iterative technique that uses four steps to improve business processes.
A layoff is when an employer suspends or terminates a worker, either temporarily or permanently, for business reasons rather than employee performance.
A contingency is a potential negative event that may occur in the future, such as a natural disaster, fraudulent activity or a terrorist attack.
The corporate ladder is a company’s hierarchy that employees need to climb to advance their careers. Read about corporate ladder pros and cons.
Absenteeism is the habitual non-presence of an employee at their job beyond what is deemed to be within an acceptable realm of days.
Administrative services only (ASO) is an agreement that companies use when they fund their employee benefit plan but hire a vendor to administrate it.
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Cover Your Ass
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