This post is mainly targeted at the Treasurers of membership organisations among us, but others are of course welcome to chip in.
At WMAU, we've recently had a request from one of our members for a monthly report of the chapter's financial situation to be made available to members. This is somewhat unusual, as I don't recall ever being in an organisation that has done this on a monthly basis for its members, as opposed to an end-year summary at the AGM, which we do already do. What I think is specifically being requested is a balance sheet and P&L statement as at the close of every month. I'm a bit hesitant to do this to be honest, while I often answer specific questions from members, unaudited MA figures can sometimes be misleading and move about a bit as various adjustments are made for the auditor. Naturally, within five minutes of being released to our members, the documents could be anywhere, so it's as good as making them public. Does any other chapter provide this sort of high level information on a regular basis, other than at the annual general meeting (or equivalent)?
We'll also be seeking advice from the relevant department of government on this question, but I wonder if anyone else has some experience or perspectives to share?
Thanks, Craig Franklin Wikimedia Australia
For the Board of Directors I don't provide full financial statements but I do provide a summary of the corporation's finances. The point of this is not to provide a full financial report (which we do at the end of the year), but to generally explain to the Board what I have been doing for the past month and how much money we still have. These reports are printed in our Board meeting minutes which are available online: http://wikimediadc.org/wiki/Meetings.
James Hare Treasurer, Wikimedia District of Columbia
On Aug 19, 2012, at 7:55 AM, Craig Franklin wrote:
This post is mainly targeted at the Treasurers of membership organisations among us, but others are of course welcome to chip in.
At WMAU, we've recently had a request from one of our members for a monthly report of the chapter's financial situation to be made available to members. This is somewhat unusual, as I don't recall ever being in an organisation that has done this on a monthly basis for its members, as opposed to an end-year summary at the AGM, which we do already do. What I think is specifically being requested is a balance sheet and P&L statement as at the close of every month. I'm a bit hesitant to do this to be honest, while I often answer specific questions from members, unaudited MA figures can sometimes be misleading and move about a bit as various adjustments are made for the auditor. Naturally, within five minutes of being released to our members, the documents could be anywhere, so it's as good as making them public. Does any other chapter provide this sort of high level information on a regular basis, other than at the annual general meeting (or equivalent)?
We'll also be seeking advice from the relevant department of government on this question, but I wonder if anyone else has some experience or perspectives to share?
Thanks, Craig Franklin Wikimedia Australia
Treasurers mailing list Treasurers@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/treasurers
All WMPT financial reports[1] are (i believe) like the one your member is asking, you can see an example here: http://wikimedia.pt/Relat%C3%B3rios/Financeiro/2011/en
I realize WMPT isnt as big as WMAU, but I also dont see the problem in make the documents public (except maybe if there is legal reasons why something cant be public)
[1]: You can see the full list here: http://wikimedia.pt/Relat%C3%B3rios/Financeiro _____ *Béria Lima* (who is NOT the treasurer of WMPT)
*Imagine um mundo onde é dada a qualquer pessoa a possibilidade de ter livre acesso ao somatório de todo o conhecimento humano. Ajude-nos a construir esse sonho. http://wikimedia.pt/Donativos*
On 19 August 2012 08:55, Craig Franklin cfranklin@halonetwork.net wrote:
This post is mainly targeted at the Treasurers of membership organisations among us, but others are of course welcome to chip in.
At WMAU, we've recently had a request from one of our members for a monthly report of the chapter's financial situation to be made available to members. This is somewhat unusual, as I don't recall ever being in an organisation that has done this on a monthly basis for its members, as opposed to an end-year summary at the AGM, which we do already do. What I think is specifically being requested is a balance sheet and P&L statement as at the close of every month. I'm a bit hesitant to do this to be honest, while I often answer specific questions from members, unaudited MA figures can sometimes be misleading and move about a bit as various adjustments are made for the auditor. Naturally, within five minutes of being released to our members, the documents could be anywhere, so it's as good as making them public. Does any other chapter provide this sort of high level information on a regular basis, other than at the annual general meeting (or equivalent)?
We'll also be seeking advice from the relevant department of government on this question, but I wonder if anyone else has some experience or perspectives to share?
Thanks, Craig Franklin Wikimedia Australia
Treasurers mailing list Treasurers@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/treasurers
My thoughts are that it would generate an awful lot more questions from the membership about the day to day running of the organisation. If the member is asking out of interest, and has financial skills themselves, it could be useful. Then again, they might want to argue the price you're spending on staples.
There has to be an element of trust involved with the chapter. It's good for members to have input, but if it generates a too large workload, or gives misleading figures, it might be best to reconsider.
My advice might be to keep the members informed at a general level: for example, with rough figures (to the nearest thousand for WMUK) but don't get bogged down in detail.
Richard Symonds, Wikimedia UK On Aug 19, 2012 12:55 PM, "Craig Franklin" cfranklin@halonetwork.net wrote:
This post is mainly targeted at the Treasurers of membership organisations among us, but others are of course welcome to chip in.
At WMAU, we've recently had a request from one of our members for a monthly report of the chapter's financial situation to be made available to members. This is somewhat unusual, as I don't recall ever being in an organisation that has done this on a monthly basis for its members, as opposed to an end-year summary at the AGM, which we do already do. What I think is specifically being requested is a balance sheet and P&L statement as at the close of every month. I'm a bit hesitant to do this to be honest, while I often answer specific questions from members, unaudited MA figures can sometimes be misleading and move about a bit as various adjustments are made for the auditor. Naturally, within five minutes of being released to our members, the documents could be anywhere, so it's as good as making them public. Does any other chapter provide this sort of high level information on a regular basis, other than at the annual general meeting (or equivalent)?
We'll also be seeking advice from the relevant department of government on this question, but I wonder if anyone else has some experience or perspectives to share?
Thanks, Craig Franklin Wikimedia Australia
Treasurers mailing list Treasurers@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/treasurers
treasurers@lists.wikimedia.org