Update For Finance – Sep 2024
OIAA Finance Committee
Record of Minutes
Saturday, September 14th, 2024
8:00am – am HDT
11:00am – pm PDT
2:00pm -pm EDT
Attendees :
Jennifer B – OIAA Treasurer
Felix – Alternate Treasurer
Barry – Trustee at Large / Chair of the International Conventions
Mark M = OIAA Secretary
Jan BB – Pack
Beth A =
Erica –
KD Kevin –
Agenda Review
After the Serenity Prayer, Jennifer explains that the meeting consists of mainly More Budget Requests. She would like to go over the Convention and discuss excess funds to distribute at the end of the year. She goes over the Agenda : Approval of Minutes, Review of the Financial Reports and then they will head right into the Committee Budgets. They can finish with any other business and close with the Responsibility Statement. She asks if any participant would like to add anything to the Agenda. Barry believes that there needs to be some measures put in place for voting. There should be a minimum voting participant to be present when voting on money and fiduciary. Jennifer adds it to the Agenda and goes onto the next item.
AGENDA REVIEW APPROVED
July Minutes Review
Jennifer goes to the Approval of the July Minutes. Jennifer says that August is not available for approval today, but the Secretary is a little behind. After going over, the Treasurer asks for a motion to accept July Minutes. Felix makes a motion to accept Barry seconds. Any opposed. None.
JULY MINUTES APPROVED
Review of the Financial Statements
These are for the August Financial Statements. There were Contributions of just over $9,900. Jennifer states that from year to date, OIAA is running a 24.62% surplus comparative to the Budget. Paypal and Stripe fees are directly associated with Revenues. She mentions that they are now of non profit status so they are paying less which is reflected. They are even bringing in more Revenue. She states that there is almost $14,000 more in Contributions. She explains that the Professional fees for the Accounting software which are going up in 2025. Conference expenses which is the remaining balance for the ICOAA and has been completely paid up. Lastly there are some expenses for the upcoming workshop that the Tech is going to be attending. There are 7 participants but 6 tickets are paid for by OIAA Jennifer continues down the list: $259.00 for the Convention is for Interpretation Costs for Training, $745.00 which is the downpayment for the lapel pins for the International Convention in Vancouver. The Tech Special worker helps with our Website and Maintenance. Technology had some Interpretation costs for their Safety Workshop. The Unity meetings have every meeting in Spanish and Portuguese for Interpretation. Other Technology is our Membership Database Technology that is being worked on. Video Conferencing is $50 for our Zoom Account. Website Hosting and Management is our Google and we also paid our annual fee for the Events Plug-in, which is more than normal this month. Finally we have Net Income of just under $3,000.00. Jennifer asks if there are any questions about the Budget Variance.
NO QUESTIONS OR FEEDBACK
Balance Sheet Review
Balance Sheet shows there is $140,000 in the bank of which $5,500 is earmarked for the 2025 International Convention. She tells Barry that he will see those numbers go down and that next month we’re going to reduce the accrued expenses in order for the pins to go in 2024. But then in 2025, we’re going to flip it to the correct expense. Barry understands that we have to keep it in the correct accounting years. Jennifer explains that previously she thought this expense for the pins would be in 2025, but that it just happened the other day instead. She states that we have $134,000 and change in unearmarked Cash on the Balance Sheet. She asks for any questions. None.
NO QUESTIONS OR FEEDBACK
Contributions Review
Jennifer moves onto the final statement which is the Contributions Statement. It is listed by Group for the month and they are getting new groups all the time now. She also says that these new groups are significantly contributing to the OIAA monthly or quarterly. Total amount of contributions for August is $9,900 and some change. Barry has a question and asks about certain checks that come into OIAA from ‘Online Home Groups”. Jennifer answers that a few groups use Online Home Groups as a platform to manage their money. . Jennifer explains that there is an AA online service where the OIAA gets one check from them specifying the name of the group it is from on the Memo line. Felix answers that they probably get 2 or 3 checks a month from Online Home Group. Barry answers that “Online Home Group” got a big shout out today on the NAATW and to keep an eye out and see if the curve changes. Jennifer asks if there are any other questions on the Financial Statements so she can get started on the Budgets. None
NO QUESTIONS OR FEEDBACK
Vancouver Convention Budget Request
Jennifer shares screen and Barry says, “950.” He explains that this number is the new adjusted Budget Request for 2025 is for the balance of the pins that was paid in 2024. It has to be accounted for against their Budget for the Convention in 2025. He explains that they need to record the transaction this way with Jennifer’s guidance. He says that they spent $950 more in 2024 and that they have to get the budget for that shifted into 2025 so that their Budget versus their Total Budget for Convention stays in balance. Jennifer asks everyone if they have any questions on this Budget. She states that to move things along quickly today, she is going to just ask if there are any opposed to Barry’s Vancouver Convention Budget. No one Opposes.
VANCOUVER CON REQUEST APPROVED
Pack’s Budget Request
Jennifer brings up Pax’s Budget Request with Jan B. Jan BB says that they want to produce a video in American Sign Language to explain how to navigate the website and to explain how to complete a form. It would guide people through the website and explain to them how to complete it. She says that the Communications Committee and they have said they can do it. The video will be added to the Dropdown list on the website and will be available for ASL users. She says that they would hire interpreters which would be an extra cost, but they would be use them productively. Jan would like to hire well known interpreters within the Community. She explains that ASL is different than the rest and is a visual language. She believes it falls under Admissions.
Jennifer says that ASL Interpreters’ requests should be taken through the Interpretations Hire Process and not hand picked by her personally. Jan B replies that in the ASL Community, there is an immediate non trusting aspect and since a speaker for ASL would be well known, it gets rid of that stigma. Beth says that there are many others that are having this kind of issue and are languages that are also in need.
Mark says that this is not what is being discussed here. He says he thinks it is perfectly acceptable and reasonable to hire these interpreters for this specific purpose. He supports this entirely. He says they have been talking about having an Accessibilities Committee. Mark asks the Finance Committee to discuss having that Committee, and if so would need some funding. Mark recommends that they fund the Committee for a Budget starting at $2,000 to $20,000 so that they have some funds when the Committee gets going. Jan tries to get her point across on why these certain interpreters are being requested. Jan replies that there are trusted ASL interpreters that are used quite frequently that are cheaper. She would like to use these people as they create a bit of relaxation and trust that what they are seeing is translated with their best interest at heart. She adds that these clips will be “living” on the website, so there is familiarity. .
Beth says to Jan that the ASL Interpreters on her list that she provided them had some of the same people on it that are in Jennifer’s list. The difference is that they are much cheaper. Jan answers that she would know who is the best fit for this service. Jan says that PAC has never asked for any money, not one dime. So, before the end of her term, she would like to see something happen. Beth says that she is uncomfortable making an exception for just one group and not for others. This opens it up for other groups to go outside the procedure. In Unity, everyone is equal and she understands that there is a policy in place for hiring. They should at least follow that across the board. Otherwise, when they begin making exceptions, it opens the door for more requests. .
Barry says that the accessibility issue is something that has been on his mind for some time. He believes that Jan is bringing something that is public user experience related. He believes if they have a chance to hire a well respected and widely known personality to do an ad for us or to use as an interpreter, he thinks they should do it. He says if anyone gets their “nose out of joint” , maybe they should’ve just asked. He is all for improving the user experiences for a reasonable cost, and this certain request seems to fall in that. Jennifer replies that obtaining interpretation services has a protocol in place. This would open the door to other needed language requests. Jennifer offers Jan a compromise. She has 2 certified ASL Interpreters working at the Assembly. Jan interjects that this is not comparable to an Assembly. Since this is going to the website, Jan states that she will not compromise. Jennifer says that if Jan could have just 2 people rate those interpreters who are ASL certified for feedback on the interpreters as opposed to only allowing one option.
Mark says he’s feeling a bit uncomfortable with the governing of the request. He thinks if, Tech had this request for a video project it wouldn’t be an issue. He believes this is a standalone project that has to do with public relations and they should give the group autonomy to do so. He feels that they are being too governed here and wants to let Jan go and do this project.
Jan replies that she finds the micromanaging a bit much. She wants to do it her way and understands that this is not following procedure and will not compromise. She believes her request is not much to ask. She adds that PAC has never asked for anything in the past. She doesn’t understand why she has to follow that procedure just because it has stepped out of the normal way of doing things. Jennifer agrees that it is different and Jan replies that it is because it is different and Jennifer seems to have given more than her opinion on that. She feels offended that she would now have to go to these 2 events and vet all the other people just to get her request approved. Why should she have to do these extra things just because she is going against protocol? Jennifer replies that she did not say that she had to do all of those things. Jan disagrees. Since Jennifer does not have expertise in that area since they are already going to be attending the Assembly and Convention, would they be able to review? Jennifer finishes saying that since Jan doesn’t know any more about the ASL side of it than she does, perhaps another ASL participant could give more insight. Jan answers that she just might know a little more than Jennifer. Erica has a comment about translation for the hearing impaired. She believes it is completely different and she wouldn’t treat regular translation the same as hearing impaired translation. Barry would like to add that they may have AI create some sign language pieces for them, but since they don’t have it right now, they could have Jan from the PAC Committee put together a warm and welcoming package for our ASL users that could last several years. He suggests perhaps maybe even doing it for free.
Felix would like to understand how these people were picked. Was there some sort of method in selecting the providers? If they are the “most used in the ASL community”, how was that determined? Jan answers that it will initially go through the Treasurer to be paid, not her personally. She reiterates that it will end up on the website as a permanent edition.
Beth thinks she is seeing this like a package deal. She says that there is a procedure in place to hire Interpretation and it was set across the board for everything. So long as it does not affect the procedure in which to hire Interpreters.
Jennifer would like to say that the AA is familiar with ASL translators and they have all interpreted for Alcoholics Anonymous previously. Alene provided them with a list geographically of ASL interpreters. This is really about one individual and what she is comfortable with. Jennifer says that she kind of feels contempt prior to investigation because she looked over the list of 10 interpreters and she found that it was unusual because one of the interpreters had also quoted Jennifer previously and there was a $10/hr difference. She states that the interpreter probably didn’t realize that they had already messaged her offering $55/hr and now on this preferred list, she is pricing out at $65/hr.
So, that’s why Jennifer was a little suspect to begin with.
Mark says he would definitely call something like that into question. Jennifer agrees and calls for anyone who Opposes the Budget as written. No one Opposes. Budget passes.
PACK BUDGET REQUEST ACCEPTED
Unity Budget Request
For the Unity Budget, Jennifer says that she is going to go to the details because it gives you much more. She shares screen and asks Beth to present the Unity Budget. Beth begins with a comparison to last year’s Budget and it is more than double from last year. Last year, she messed up by not including Tech expenses. She would like to avoid that for this Budget. Beth says that since OIAA is growing bigger, she has to increase the size of the rooms for the Convention. This has increased up to about $4,000 from this year’s Budget. The Interpretaion is a total of 6 languages interpreted. Under Other Technology, since there is no registration program in place, they need to have a registration process and also have a separate kind of site page that they can create. She says there is this event called Create. Beth has had many meetings with the salesperson from that company and they have a platform which is easy to use, kind of like wix. It’s easy to navigate. She proposes the easier program if the other option does not work. She put the estimated cost in the Budget. Another item under Other Technology is the concern that they’re going to go over a thousand people . She says that they were refused a special license this year, so Tech 12 can do an overflow room. There is a specific estimate for that as well. This amount would be for the 3 days. They could have someone on call to create overflow rooms when needed. That is also an exact estimate.
Next is Tech Support or an admin support person. She explains that Admin work, spreadsheets and all kinds of things are needed. She says that she has found someone on Upwork that is bilingual for the job. She says that they can help with writing emails, organizing and a lot of things that need to be done. She says that until their registration platform is up and running she thinks that it would be great to have some help . The Upworks employee has a fee of $30/hr. Her last addition to the Budget is Certified Translation Services for the Convention. She says that the website uses Google Translate which isn’t always correct so they should have the information translated properly. They could send out these schedules in different languages.
Normally under Interpretation Services, they have at least 2 different languages interpreted every single meeting. So that’s a calculation for the 26 meetings throughout the year. Jennifer replies that it’s actually calculated for 3 languages for 26 meetings. Beth A replies that, at this time, they presently have Portuguese and Spanish. They also have French and Iranian members that come in occasionally and a new Italian member. She says they usually bring in their own interpreter, but this is where they can help people too. She believes in doing service because the point is to attract people into the service positions.
She finished with her Budget Request.
Jennifer asks if there are any questions for Beth. Jennifer asks Beth if the total amount is $45,006.43 for 2025. Jennifer states that this is the second largest Budget request behind Tech’s Budget. Mark asks what the total costs for the Convention are up to this point. Jennifer answers that they are within the Budget at $19,000. Mark replies that they are more than doubling the Budget. Beth adds that this does not include personal monies that have been put in. Mark asks how much that is and Beth answers that it’s about $1,000.00. Mark says that this year’s costs equals $20,000 and next year would be twice as much. Beth replies that they might be even higher next year. Mark states that the total Budget and Measure costs is $42,000.00, so even more than double. Jennifer answers Yes. Mark believes in going with his gut and it seems that they should be able to put on a pretty damn good show for 3 days for less than $40,000.00. Beth says that she would personally ask for more. She wonders where they could cut money. Mark says he cannot challenge any of these details right now, as he would have to deconstruct it. Erica thinks it’s important to be able to attend anywhere that English is not the people’s first language. She says that she’s been in AA now for 36 years and she thinks this is really mind blowing and fabulous and she’s so grateful that they are finally getting to be truly global. She’s grateful for all the work they’ve done and everybody else on Unity as well. Jennifer asks for any other questions or concerns before they vote.
Beth says that she was using Mark’s Special Worker. Mark answers that he’s Budgeted for that and says that he supports the website and all lives on the website. It’s for Unity and the Convention. It’s what they do. Jennifer asks if there is anyone opposed to the Unity Budget. No one
Jan states that she would like to abstain from voting on this.
UNITY BUDGET ACCEPTED
Secretary’s Budget Request
Jennifer moves on to the Secretary’s Budget. Jennifer says since Jeff is not there, she can speak on this one item that she knows. She says that it was sent to her and she had asked him about the registered agent Fee that she didn’t remember seeing come through. She says that she’=s been looking for it for the past several years. It had been prepaid and she says that it’s good until 2030. She explains that this is not an applicable request as it is already prepaid and is being taken out. The Conference expense of $1500 is the conference that Susan and Jeff just attended. She goes over the Directors and Officers Insurance and says that they have that for the OIAA as well as liability insurance. The Charity registration and annual New Jersey filing fee. The secretary budget is a total of $2,549. She also says that he put in a little increase in the comparative actual amounts. But, since he’s not here, she can answer any questions anyone has, then they can vote on it. She asks if anyone is opposed to the Secretary’s Budget or any abstention. No one, ALl in? Okay, I’ll take that as all in favor.
SECRETARY’S BUDGET ACCEPTED
Communications Budget Request
She moves onto the Communications Budget which is unavailable since the presenter isn’t present. She decides to share it for review as it is the Communications Budget. She says she can’t talk to any of it, but it is up for anyone to review it as she will also do. $300 for Metadata Scrubbing Service or archives. Google video program is on the list and Jennifer replies that if and when it will be released, it will be in 2025. She has no clue as to what that is. She continues reading the Budget Request. Embedded ASL Window for OIAA Youtube Videos, Detail Contract, need more information. Jennifer says that the total request for Communications is $1,600.00. Jennifer asks if anyone has any thoughts or concerns. Erica has a comment on the Metadata Scrubbing Service. She thinks it is something very important to us and the world of unwanted data sharing. Beth comments that Deep L is way more expensive than $300.00, but she would personally suggest that it be raised. Beth says that’s the only comment she has, that seems a bit low. Erica asks if there are already two subscriptions. Mark answers that there is one account for sure and that it’s $28.00 per month for the advanced account which gives you 20 file translations per month. Mark thinks that this is the option that she is going to pick. Jennifer comments that she’s not comfortable with changing her Budget Mark and Jennifer both agree that they do not back this increase. Mark thinks that they have that covered already and suggests that she figure out what is needed for Deep L.
Jennifer asks for any participant to submit a motion. Felix replies to hold on this for now. Erica asks Felix if he is asking to table the motion. Felix answers that yes, he would like to ask to table the motion. Erica seconds the request to table the request. Jennifer asks the group who all are in favor. Unanimous.
COMMUNICATIONS BUDGET REQUEST DECISION TABLED
Jennfier tells Felix that she will not be available for the October meeting and that she would like for him to copy the Finance Committee meeting and add that to his Agenda and to add any other documents to that and send out to the invitees and make sure that Leslie is invited on that. She adds that to possibly send her a separate email saying that we really need her presence there.
CPC Budget Request
She brings up CPC Budget and says that she knew that Gwen wouldn’t be available at this meeting, but she is requesting $500 for Interpretation Services for their Committee Meeting. Jennifer states that the Board did give her $200 to use in 2024 and she has not used it. It’s a one line request item for $500 from CPC. She asks if anyone has any questions. Erica wants to reiterate that there’s $200 left from last year that hasn’t been spent, and this request is for an additional 5 that may or may not be spent. Jennifer replies that she asked for the $200 in August. Erica thanks her for her answer. Jennifer asks if there are any other questions or concerns about CPC’s Budget. Jennifer asks if there are any opposed to the Budget. None.
CPC BUDGET REQUEST ACCEPTED
Board Administrative Assistant Budget Request
The last one is an Administrative Assistant Budget for The Board. Jennifer says that she believes the Board may be able to offload things to a special worker. She estimates about $400 a month to hire outside workers to take some of the load off of the Board. Erica says that she totally approves of this idea in general. She also wonders if the Board could also make sure to provide a little more detail in those hours. She says it would make things easier and says that other people have questioned these types of expenses. Mark thanks Erica and would like to second those feelings and thoughts. He believes it’s a great idea and wonders who came up with it. Jennifer says that she came up with it and took the lead to present it since it has to come to the Finance Committee first anyway. Since it wasn’t in the Budget, it was a reasonable thing to add. Mark says that he sees the value in the idea and he thinks Erica is absolutely correct and there better be some details such as task and type of people recording. Erica “Bravo’s” Jennifer and says she really supports this idea. . Jennifer says it seems like a common issue between the Board is that they are overworked. It could help if some items could be done by an independent worker. She believes Beth could maybe use some help. Beth replies that she would mainly hope that there was GOOD help, but she agrees she could probably use some help. Jennifer continues that she thinks the Chair and possibly the Secretary positions might also be able to utilize special workers in an Administrative way. She asks if there is any more discussion on this Budget and if there is something anyone wants to address. Erica wants to say that tabling is probably the right thing, but until the Board has a chance to discuss and then get more detail she is 100% supportive of this idea. Jennifer replies that the way this Budget process works is they bring it to the Finance Committee, we do the input and then we take that input to the Board. She says that this month is one of the unusual months where normally the Board would meet tomorrow but since it happened last week and since she’s not going to be available for the month of October, the next time the Board looks at any Budgets, they will be looking at what was passed here, in November. She just didn’t want to short change the Budget in a critical area that might overwhelm some. She proposes that they jump the gun and propose this to the Board and they can actually talk in October. She asks if the Finance Committee would like to table this until November or if vote on this now. Erica would like to know if they could refer this to the Board and then they can discuss it. Jennifer agrees that they table it until November. She says that the Board can then talk about it in October. She asks Beth, Felix and Mark that they make sure the Board can talk about it in October. Erica makes a motion that they do that. Jennifer Agrees. Mark seconds. All in Favor. Unanimous. She says to the Board members present that they please make sure that happens for October.
BOARD ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT BUDGET REQUEST TABLED til NOVEMBER
Excess Funds Distribution Discussion
Jennifer wants to share with everyone that there is a total Budget of $130,000 and right now they have a little over $134,000 in their coffers. So chances are, they are going to have excess funds at the end of the year. The contributions will continue through the Convention because they are voluntary as they are not charging a fee for the Convention. She explains there will be a link for the Contributions in each meeting so that’s the big question mark. She would like to ask everyone where they would like to distribute those excess funds at the end of the year. Jennifer says that the way the guidelines reads that they do the excess distribution at the end of the year and that they take the expenses that are approved in the December Assembly and they retain that cash. That amount of cash in the bank account, if anything is beyond those expenses for the next year, it is then distributed. She explains that they want to do a percentage so that the Treasurer sends out those excesses by the percentage at the end of the year. She says she’s going to do it down to the dollar. Mark would like to say that everything that is discussed here is very important and valid, but he would like to suggest the most constructive way to determine would be to build a survey list in time for the Assembly in a week. He thinks we should ask the members where they’d like to send this money and not sit here and decide where we want to send it. He wonders how they should frame this question. Jennifer replies that if they were going to do an actual survey that Mark’s team would handle that. She thinks they should discuss it now and it would be appropriate for them to be able to give input as to what should be in there. Erica asks Jennifer what they did last year. Jennifer replies that they did not have enough last year as there wasn’t enough money to fulfill all their expenses proposed for 2024, so there was no distribution. In 2023, they distributed to GSO in New York, The International Literature Fund and Grapevine Carrying the Message and TIAA. She said they had voted to also send to NAATW, however, they allowed their 501(c)(3) to lapse so they were unable to contribute to them. She says that they ended up retaining those funds and sending to other 4 entities.
Jennifer says she was not part of that conversation as far as those distributions and the Assembly voted on it, so she just did what the Assembly said. However,now as an active member and contributor to the OIAA, she is against sending excess distributions outside the realm of AA. These outside entities are not within Alcoholics Anonymous. She asks Kevin if he would be able to talk more to this cause as he has a lot more experience than she does. She asks Kevin if he would like to talk about giving to International AA entities. Kevin responds that he’s just an MBA, CPA, but that doesn’t mean he knows anything about tax law. He says that his experience is completely with publicly traded companies and financial statements so he doesn’t deem to speak about it. He does say that he can check it out for them though. Jennifer says there is a place on the tax return where you disclose if you have given to international entities. Since she is not an expert, she does have $2,400.00 for an accounting service. They could employ expertise in that area. She would like to hear some conversation concerning this. She would like to know what the Finance Committee thinks is the best place to distribute excess funds. Erica says that if it’s possible, they could send money to the African Women’s Conference which just happened. She thinks it would be fun to help with that effort next year, but it’s a Women’s Conference so it may not count for AA. Jennifer answers that, as their Treasurer, she would be resistant to any Conferences or outside type entities that charges a fee. She is looking at AA entities such as GSO, the International Literature Fund, but those are no-brainers. Erica brings up that there are a lot of GSO’s in the world. Jennifer answers that she is aware. Kevin replies that it wouldn’t be as much of an international tax concern for us as it would be for them. Jennifer agrees that it is about our tax return. She asks if they are able to do that or if they would have to give some additional assistance. The International Literature Fund is actually a US nonprofit marketplace. It seems to Mark that the Assembly would be able to do that. He says that they have always had this weird schism with GSO, but says that it would make sense if OIAA can just say that excess contributions are going to be distributed internationally to every GSO. He believes that would be a wonderful way to have to only say one thing. He could only say, we give it to all the GSO’s across the world and we spread it out the best we can”. So then we could take care of the tax or whatever issues and if that was the approach, He would be all supportive for something like that. Jennifer asks if we know how many GSO’s there are in the world? Mark said that he doesn’t but he’s heard like 66 or 67. Erica says that there is a list on the aa.org website. She says she will find it. Jennifer says that another difficulty is that the 66 distributions is a lot. She says that’s a lot of work for the Treasury. Mark replies that that sounds like a great service opportunity for somebody internationally to be the currency broker for international contributions. Beth adds that there are some countries that you wouldn’t be able to send to. Jennifer agrees. Beth explains that there are a lot of sanctions, some that just went into effect recently. They would be made to choose who they can send to. She is skeptical, but thinks it’s a great idea. Mark says that they could go across the Board, however many we can send, then you divide it by that number. Jennifer asks if Mark is volunteering? Beth says that she is hearing an expense for the Board. Jennifer replies that since it’s an Administrative task, she could kick it out there. Beth agrees and Jennifer says she can use an admin to get all the payment information for all GSO’s. She says that she knows exactly who she can use. She wonders if this is the Consensus of this Finance Committee to propose to the Assembly that they distribute the excess funds to GSO’s around the world. Mark says that he loves it and is proud to be a part of OIAA. Jennifer says that she will spend some time conferring with a tax accountant. She asks if there is anything else that needs to be done with the tax return?
GSO’S AROUND THE WORLD TO GET A PERCENTAGE OF EXCESS FUNDS
Jennifer says that this is an exciting time. It’s a lot of work, but she does not shy away from it. Mark says that they can find some people that will want to help with that one. Jennifer says that she will give that task to an admin person. It would fall under Accounting, and she’s got $2,400.00 to spend in 2024 on that. So she is good. She says that it would definitely go under Accounting. Erica wants to make sure that she has it clear that they are suggesting that it’s going to go to the Assembly for approval? Jennifer replies that yes and that the vote won’t happen until December. Jennifer will make the proposal Saturday that the Finance Committee came up with and asks if it needs to go through the Board. Beth, Erica and Mark answer it shouldn’t have to since it goes through the Assembly. Jennifer asks if there is any other new business? She asks Kevin if he would like to speak a little bit more about what she asked him to do. She adds that it is phenomenal.
Internal Audit Structure Plan
Kevin begins by saying that Jennifer had asked him to put together a project which would give some comfort to the Board and Assembly that they have all the accounting systems in place. They began this last year. He explains that basically this is accounting jargon and internal control. He explains that one of the things about a non profit organization is that they don’t have the ability to have all of the personnel in the checks and balances that occur in a publicly traded company. So, using Erica’s report, gave him a good idea on how we can structure the engagement this year. He still has a lot of questions that he will submit to Jennifer, but his background is working with the biggest corporations in the world. Auditors are always looking at data as the year goes on. They don’t just wait til December 31st. So, he has selected two periods, April and August that he downloaded. He will then take December when it closes and there will be an analysis. He says it’s actually a lot of fun as he is a numbers person. He has also contacted a friend who is at Deloitte and also has been looking at AI CPA, so, he has begun the process. Where it stands right now is the questions part. So, he and Jennifer can discuss this down the road. Jennifer agrees and says that she is available to schedule with him, except for September 29th as she will be completely unavailable. She says that she will have to do it before or after. Kevin says that before would work for him. She asks him to send her an email and she will respond quickly.
Erica would like to speak to the whole room. She wants to reiterate that the Financial Review is not a function of the Finance Committee. It is a function of the Review Team for the purpose of the Board. She wants to get this on record because it was hard to get her since she isn’t a forensic accountant, or an accountant at all. Her experience was that Jennifer had questions for us and then answered some questions and then our interaction was completely with the Board and not with Jennifer. Erica says to Kevin that it’s really nice to have someone who actually knows what they’re doing and not have to do all the homework. Kevin answers that he agrees with her and that he’s not looking at Deloitte’s Procedures. He says that he is looking at it more from an internal point of view. A public company has internal auditors and they go through some testing. He also has a question concerning whether the GSO’s are audited. Jennifer answers that they are externally audited and it is required. Kevin says that this is something that they could use. He says that they could use this process and could piggyback on it if they so wished. He says that their amounts are so immaterial that it probably won’t matter in the scope of an audit. Normally, if you suspect there’s been fraud, you will send in a special group of auditors other than the regular accounting and tax people. Unless something is found, then we’re going to be paid. Jennifer says that if you find Jennifer Butts getting paid, you might have a problem. Haha. Or Connor Redmon, she jokes, as that is her son’s name. Jennifer asks if there are any questions or if there was anything else towards the Finance Committee. She tells everyone that she appreciates their stamina on these matters. She asks if there is anything else anyone would like to raise. None.
Jennifer closes with the Responsibility Statement.
