WASFAA 2012-13 Fiscal Planning Committee Meeting

WASFAA 2012-13 Fiscal Planning Committee Meeting

June 28th, 2012

Sun Coast Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada

Present: Kay Soltis, Jack Edwards, Frank Green, Tami Sato, Mindy Bergeron, Sun Ow, Luhui Whitebear, Wendy Olson, Ashley Salisbury, Peter Miller, Leonard Walker,Paula Cady, Laura Hughes, Adam Hatch

Reminders: Committee meeting so anybody can vote.

Call to Order: A meeting of WASFAA’s Fiscal Planning Committee was held at the Sun Coast Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada on June 28. The meeting convened at 8 AM with Wendy Olson presiding and Paula Cady as secretary.

Approval of minutes: Review of minutes, minutes stand.

The To Do items were reviewed. All items were completed except for the following, with modifications added during this meeting:

Ashley still needed to check about obtaining a safety deposit box from Bank of America. Peter and Ashley suggestedbuying a fire proof safe and put it in the storage unit instead of obtaining the safety deposit box. They did some research and felt this would be the most cost effective way. Kay asked if we might have the option of getting a free safety deposit box with Bank of America due to the fact that we bank with them. Jack thinks that it would have to be at the bank that we opened the account which is in San Luis Obispo. The only thing that needs to be kept in it is the paperwork from the attorney. Kay stated that after going through all the documents the most important thing is the articles of incorporation. That one document could be kept anywhere but must be kept in paper form.

Jack Edwards moved that we buy a fire proof safe to house all the important legal documents such as the articles of incorporation. MOTION CARRIED

Ashley will buy a new fire proof safe to house the legal documents.TO DO

The Fiscal Planning Committee will continue to find a firm/person to assist with WASFAA’s audit.TO DO

Frank Green reviewed the bylaws and determined that we technically do not have a Treasurer Elect. We do not elect a Treasurer Elect; the Treasurer is elected for a three year term.If we stick to that, it means we currently have twotreasurers. Therefore he thinks then we don’t need to make changes to the current bylaws and the “Treasurer Elect” should be able to vote.

Frank will review and update Policies and Proceduresto clarify that the elected Treasurer will have voting rights in his/her first year – the time period when we have referred to the newly elected Treasurer as the Treasurer-Elect.TO DO

The bylaws need to be reviewed to clarify vote by paper ballot vs. electronic ballot. Tami says there is nothing in Policies and Procedures or Bylaws regarding electronic ballot – we are not in compliance with our Bylaws specific to elections. We need to change Bylaws to do an electronic vote. A written ballot needs to go out to change the Bylaws to be able to do an electronic vote. Wendy suggested that this discussion really needs to be in the Executive Council meeting.

We reviewed each of the 12 goals from the last year end committee meeting. Hand out of new goals for 2012-13. Approved the new goals, no motion needed.

Treasurer’s Report – Peter handed out the Treasurer’s report for review. There was discussion on airline/credit card points on Alaska and SW airlines. Sandi and Peter discussed using points to get tickets for the next meeting. The challenge with companion pass is with names. The folks coming from Hawaii would be the ideal candidates to use the points for tickets but there are challenges with using Alaska Airlines out of Hawaii. The 2010and 2011federal taxes are filed as well as California Form 199 for 2010-2011.Also the California Registry of Charitable Trust has been completed. Kay inquired about the office expenses line item. A lot of non-profits pay people to be on the board. Based on Scott Nielsen’s advice we can use this line item for estimating the hours that we work on things even though we are not paying someone to do it. Peter reallocated inside of QuickBookswhich line items things hit so that it aligns better with tax law. Kay is concerned because the number jumped up from previous years. Peter says that is because we didn’t report it before and we spent a lot more money in 2011 than 2010. Jack wonders if making this change in the way we report these line items from the way we have done it for the past 3 years will throw up a red flag and perhaps bring on an audit. Peter doesn’t think so; this is to be expected. Every time you change CPAs they will have a different perception on where things belong. Jack would just be worried about maintaining the 501c3 status. Peter says the IRS will primarily do audits on organizations that are paying taxes and we are not. Our primary function is training and that is clearly reflected in our taxes. Kay checked with other associations and everyone does do an audit or review of the taxes on a regular basis.

Questions none, no motion needed.

We got confirmation from the Vice President, Luhui, that she reviewed the reconciliation of the fiscal information that came her way. She did read but has questions. She is not sure what some charges are for because there is no explanation. She asked that Peter provide more detailed info.An example would be on the transfers; she needs more details. Peter noted that the benefit of QuickBooks online is it will allow access to the Vice President to see more detail. Wendy asked how soon until we move to QuickBooks online.Peter says we are looking at November 2012. He would like to get that set up for Mindy to take over. One of the reasons we have not already moved to Quick Books online is that you cannot import transactions into Quick Books on line.Recently there have been some 3rd party vendors that have created software that allows you to import transactions into QuickBooks online. We will need to purchasethis to make this process work. Peter contacted ATAC to see if it would flow right from ATAC to Quick Books andthis would not be possible as ATAC would have to spend roughly $25,000 to write the software. Paula did suggest a third-party software that would be a onetime cost of $199. She has not yet responded if this will work with their system. There will be a monthly cost for QuickBooksonline. The number of people that have access increases the monthly cost. The following people should have access to QuickBooks online – President, Vice President, Treasurer and Treasure Elect. Jack recommended that those four people have access to QuickBooks online. In the meantime is there something we can get to Luhui to give her the detail. Peter stated that there really is no detail on the transfer and that it is really just moving money to earn more interest. Peter will you run Luhui a monthly report of all transactions’ line items. No other comments. Peter provided history behind why the Vice President acts as a second set of eyes; Luhui doesn’t think there is enough information to approve at this time. We will want this to happen before the next meeting.

Income Adjustments–

Conference +$10,450

Fund Development +$13,575

Interest -$1,600

JRSMLI +$5,450

SDBSI -$3,665

Training +$2,500

Asset Reserves -$35,312

Expense Adjustments –

Fund Development +$1,610

Historical Archives +$23

Membership +$300

JRSMLI +$2,000

SDBSI -$12,535

Bottom line–The asset reserve adjustment was downward of $35,312, bringing down the asset reserveincome to a total of$6,338. We will make these recommendations to the ExecutiveCouncil based on approval here.

It was requested that GoToMeetingexpense of $6800be moved out of training and put into electronic services. Jack agrees with this because it goes to Ashley now and she manages it. Jack moved that we move the GoToMeeting annual contract from training to electronic services as an expense item and any income generated would offset the expense. MOTION CARRIED

Unfinished Business: Corporate tax forms have been submitted: thank you to Peter for getting this done. Sun Ow asked if there is any worksheet that can be passed on to the next person to show movement in line items for the tax purposes. Peter said it will be inside of QuickBooks. Kay wanted it noted that the taxes have been filed but no response from IRS yet and we may not get a response, which is what we hope for.

For the audit this summer, Wendy would like to use the term fiscal review vs. audit. The word “audit” brings on legal connotation. The Bylaws state that we provide the membership with a dully audited annual financial report so if we change the wording to fiscal review it would require a change to the bylaws. Kay stated that if we wanted a true audit it would cost around $20,000. Wendy recommends we change the wording to fiscal review. Question was brought up as to whether we need to change the Bylaws or Policies and Procedures. Jack put forward that we define duly audited in the Policies and Procedures. Kay stated that GSAOhas already defined what “audit “means and cautioned that we need to be careful of the use of the word. We can look to our membership as to who could do the review, Scott Nielsen from Elko, NV for example. We already have that check and balance using our own membership. Peter stated that we are clearly out of compliance with the bylaws. Cost to have audit of books is huge. Mindy stated that when she was CASFAA treasurer she was charged with having an audit because nothing had been done for 5 years, cost was $25,000.Wendy would like to see the bylaws changed to use the words “Fiscal Review”. Jack proposed that we continue to do a fiscal review for this transition from Peter to Mindy and we propose a bylaw change during the annual conference. TO DO: Wendy will contact the key players and find out what we need to consider for the fiscal review. Frank said if the wording was fiscal review he would vote down. He recommends “3rd party fiscal review”. TO DO: Clarify the language with regard to the fiscal review.

WASFAA Reimbursement Form - Wendy reviewed the changes to the meal policy. Wendy proposes we take out the phone expense reimbursement. Most people use cell phones now and don’t need that item. Recommend that we add the internet charges to be up $15 per 24 hour period with receipt. Adam questioned the need for a separate receipt for alcohol. Discussion occurred and it is recommended that this policy stay in place. There was discussion regarding the expense for taxi to the hotel and whether or not we need to place more scrutiny on this or just be more mindful of what we spend. Jack noted that this hotel (Sun Coast) is a unique situation due to the distance from the airport. TO DO: Wendy willrefine the language based on the discussion and create the Missing Receipt Affidavit. It will be available online. Use of this form should be an exception not the rule.

Credit Cards –On page 11 of the bylaws it statesthat Treasurer, Secretary, Vice President or President are the only ones authorized to have a credit card and currently Sandi has a credit card to purchase airline tickets. We used to have a travel agency but it was expensive. Wendy suggested that we could determine by resolution that we give someone permission to use the credit card to purchase travel. We need to write something in to give Sandi permission to use the credit card to purchase airline tickets. Peter recommends that we create a travel coordinator position, not a voting member of the Executive Council,but would assist WASFAA with making travel arrangements. Kay suggested that before we make this decision we need to look at what other associations are doing while also cautioning thatwe need to be very careful because Sandi might not be here next year. Frank Green moved that we as the executive council approve authorization for Sandi to have the credit card. No second. It is not a valid motion. Frank Green moved that Sandi Guidry be allowed access and use of the association credit card for the current WASFAA fiscal year and that the Executive Council research long term position of travel coordinator. MOTION CARRIED.

Record Retention – Peter stated that we’ve got a lot of old records and proposed that we hang on to records for 7 years and destroy older records. We should also look for those documents with historical value and those will be imaged. Our Policies and Procedurescurrently showrecord retention for 5 years.Peter recommends it be updated to 7 years. Peter Miller moved that we store financial records for 7 years and then destroy them. MOTION CARRIED.

Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 10:46 after Peter Miller moved for adjournment. MOTION CARRIED.

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