Richard Gallagher wrote:
--- Anthere
anthere9-/E1597aS9LQAvxtiuMwx3w@public.gmane.org wrote: >
What exactly are you suggesting? That Maveric149 should be the treasurer or he should be some sort
of
financial clerk?
No. The treasurer is a board position. But the board is empowered to delegate activity to identified persons or to committees. Mav would be financial officer, and report to the Board.
That clears it up a bit. Your original message did not go into much detail as to what exactly the role was. Personally I didn't see that there would be
much
financial work to do. So it did seem to me to be a bit redunant have both a treasurer and a financial officer.
But then again I am not familiar with intimate
details
of the foundations financial dealings. Would you be able to further describe this financial officer role and how it differs treasurer?
If Mav were on the board, I guess there would be perhaps no financial officer for a while. But I suppose he would have got some help from other people anyway.
In the current situation, neither Angel or I are expert on financial matters. I would also add that there is a lot to do, and no way we can do everything alone. So, it is probably best that we focus on what we may do best and are most interested in doing, while delegating to other people the other issues. There are plenty of motivated participants ready to give a hand, why would we deny them doing this if they can probably do it better than us ?
That does not mean we are not interested, nor completely clueless. I had some training in accounting while a student, in agricultural business. And I practiced a bit.
There are few things as neat as classifying a cow, which may be bought as a young (hence an expense), then sold for her tender meat (become a revenu), or switch to become a tool (producing milk), or become a tool which produce a future tool (giving birth to future cows), or end up as bad meat. Every couple of months, cows change categories :-) Good grief, they can even die and disappear from the accounts for free, or be burned because of a bad disease (so, actually cost you money). Does not make it easy to calculate amortization....
Anyway. The treasurer will look more at the big picture, while the financial officer will more focus on giving detailed and clear report, which will allow the board to take informed decisions. It is also the duty of the officer to warn the treasurer when money is running out unexpectedly.
This is an example of what the officer will provide (is already...) : http://meta.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_bank_account_history_for_2004
The officer should also keep track of all details, so as to be ready in case of an audit. He may also help in setting up a comprehensive budget, according to directions given by the board (or make suggestions, which may be supported by the board, then developped by the officer). It is then the board role to ensure the officer have all the necessary information.
Example : I suggested to JeLuF a few days ago to set a page where developer team would try to indicate the needs in terms of hardware : http://meta.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardware_provisional_budget The treasurer might ensure that this page is kept up to date, perhaps ask someone to take the responsability for it to be exact. This information will be precious for the officer to set the budget.
Another example is organisation of the due system. The treasurer might organise it, set the policy about it, then have it approved by the community and the board.
Once the fee system policy is ready, the officer can organise the budget using the estimation of membership revenu.
After the due system has been implemented by a developer team and is in working order, the officer will be responsible of making detailed report month after month about income from fees. Or about the way the fees are used. It may also take care of managing membership :-)
The treasurer might decide with the board, that some of the detailed information should be displayed on the wikimediafoundation website, for transparency and information to members. He will then rely on the treasurer to provide relevant gathered data to offer to public scrutiny :-)
Of course, the officer might need help and counselling to do all this, hence the financial committee is much needed :-)
In short, the treasurer will try to look at the big picture and make sure the officer can get all what is needed. The officer will try to ensure that everything is done properly and legally, and will give feedback on the general situation. The treasurer should check back.
Suggestions are always welcome. Budget should be a common effort, with participation of all those involved in *spending* the money, and all those involved in *gathering* it.
I mostly think the relationship between the treasurer and the officer will be a symbiotic relationship. Both need and complete the other one.
This aside from legal considerations of responsability, where Michael could probably give more details.
I believe it is important to get a set accounts
drawn
including a balance sheet and statement of income
and
expenditure. Then have them audited by a
chartered
accountant. Because often when applying for
grants
they will request an audited set of accounts.
Might you explain what you are thinking of, when you mention "a chartered accountant" ?
A chartered accountant is an accountant who is a member of institute of accountants for their
country.
Seeing as Wikimedia is US based I probably should
have
used the US equivalent term which is certified accountant. The thing is anyone can call themselves an accountant, while to call yourself a chartered/certified accountant you have to have
passed
some exams and have a certain amount of work experience.
Understood.
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