Yesterday, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner introduced details of the Obama Administration's so-called "Financial Stability Plan," which aims to restore confidence in the country's financial system with programs designed to encourage the flow of credit, stimulate lending by banks and stem the growth of foreclosures in the housing market. Last week, Secretary Geithner laid the groundwork for the Financial Stability Plan by introducing new guidelines for executive compensation and other expenditures for companies benefiting from government bailout programs. In case you missed them, the new guidelines included at least one provision related to corporate travel, meetings and incentives. According to Treasury, companies receiving "exceptional financial recovery assistance" must adopt a "company policy relating to approval of luxury expenditures."Reads the guideline:"The boards of directors of companies receiving exceptional assistance from the government must adopt a company-wide policy on any expenditures related to aviation services, office and facility renovations, entertainment and holiday parties, and conferences and events. This policy is not intended to cover reasonable expenditures for sales conferences, staff development, reasonable performance incentives and other measures tied to a company's normal business operations. These new rules go beyond current guidelines, and would require certification by chief executive officers for expenditures that could be viewed as excessive or luxury items. Companies should also now post the test of the expenditures policy on their web sites."The new Treasury guidelines were issued on Feb. 4, a day after the Associated Press released an article criticizing San Francisco-based Wells Fargo for moving forward with an employee recognition event that was scheduled—and subsequently cancelled—for this month in Las Vegas. Although it's unclear to what extent they will impact corporate meetings and events, the guidelines' open-ended phrasing—which speaks to "reasonable expenditures" and "expenditures that could be viewed as excessive"—is open to interpretation and therefore suggests an increased focus within the industry on public perception and corporate responsibility.Although the guidelines only apply to companies accepting government assistance, they're likely to be adopted going forward as best practices for other organizations who wish to court government favor and public approval.