Finance Minutes/Report

Finance

Minutes/Report:
DATE: January 20, 2006 - Finance Committee Minutes
LOCATION: Cincinnati, OH
ATTENDEES: See minutes
GUEST(S): Debbie Scholz
MINUTES STATUS:

MASFAA Finance Committee
January 20, 2006
Cincinnati, Ohio

*********************************************************************
***
Present: Vickie Crupper, Billie Jo Hamilton, Brian Heinemann, Karen
Kopp, Dan Mann, Samantha Ruffini, Howard Thomas
*********************************************************************
***

1. Project Development Plan as presented by Debbie Scholz
“It’s About Students” project plan to use as reported on Fund
request form. The Iowa state association would contribute $1000,
for a total of $10,000. $9000 is being requested from MASFAA. Is
$9,000 enough funding for scholarships perhaps, marketing to
students? Debbie asking for $9000 to do something with the schools
involved. Howard asked what would the liability be and would the
students have to sign off as a field trip. See yellow proposal.
What is the outcome for the proposal? Students would be moderators
for the conference sessions. They would have exposure to a
professional organization. Student ambassadors would be at various
tables to interact with the MASFAA membership. Vickie stated that
it would be a good opportunity for outreach activities for the
membership. The proposal states 25 students per day as a
possibility. Students could help with packet stuffing, moderating
sessions, etc.
The 2nd proposal is to have a presidents’ exchange with other
associations, identified by Exec Council to attend our conference
and we would also go to theirs, such as AACRAO or IACUBO.
Discussion ensued regarding the proposal and whether it fits under
the project development fund. There would be a lot of
responsibility to shepherd the 25 children. There are parts that
are very valid; however, the proposal is somewhat unclear. They are
trying to take Dan’s theme of “It’s About Students,” but the price
is high and the committee just doesn’t understand the concept.
Perhaps the proposal should be refined and the monetary request be
reduced. Billie Jo would need to contact the insurance company to
see what the liability would be to have elementary students and high
school students. There are also questions regarding
stipends/scholarships.
The other proposal was to have another professional organization do
a president’s exchange with MASFAA. The other associations may not
have the resources to participate in such a program. Dan suggested
that he contact AACRAO, NACUBO and NAFSA.

2. Balance sheet and profit and loss report.
Samantha and Billie Jo handed out reports. The rafting trip in West
Virginia made money of over $900. Billie Jo stated that this is the
time of year we have a negative balance as we have no funds coming
in and have outstanding payments for the conference. AES had
originally paid for some services and MASFAA had to reimburse AES.
Everything is paid for the Charleston conference. We have also paid
for the science center in Des Moines for the upcoming conference.
The IMAX theater presentation will be shown twice. Billie Jo has
signed the contract for the 2008 Conference at the Cincinnati
Hilton. Samantha also ran a comparison from last year to this year
and it appears as though we have spent more this year, partly due to
the decrease in membership dues and conference registration fees
that came in after November 1st. Samantha still has three
individuals who are unpaid from the conference. Billie Jo
recommended that Samantha contact the one school member’s director
that the individual bounced a check and still hasn’t paid. Samantha
will contact the individual and if she doesn’t follow through,
Samantha will then follow up with the institution. The other two
are vendors and payment is on the way. One is USA Funds and the
other individual is from Key Bank. Samantha will follow up with
those two individuals also.
Samantha handed out information regarding the conference and what
was income and what were expenses. She asked for clarification on
what should be considered expenses. Awards are their own line
item. Conference scholarships should be listed as expenses under
professional development. Program committee and site committee
expenses should be their travel expenses. Expenses might be in the
wrong line item, but the bottom line should be pretty consistent
from year to year. Discussion ensued regarding where the funds go
from corporate support. Dan asked what should be shared with the
Exec Committee tomorrow, which is that we stayed within budget and
our goal of assisting the membership with expenses was met.

3. Ecommerce cost update
The expenses were pointed out on the first page of the profit and
loss statement. Billie Jo and Samantha both agreed that the
ecommerce is very difficult to reconcile. At the end of the month
Samantha gets gross/net statement and must go through every
transaction for Billie Jo to reconcile. Discussion ensued on how to
account for the fees and where to put the ecommerce fees. There is
an issue about the fees that are charged for using the ecommerce.
There are different fees charged for personal credit cards vs.
college/university/corporate cards. A suggestion was made to ask
the vendor for a different statement setup, once a month. Billie Jo
will follow up with emerchant and the bank. Billie Jo must wait to
reconcile the account after Samantha reviews the statement and makes
the adjustment.

4. Investment review/plan
Billie Jo asked for guidance regarding the CDs. Ernesto had one CD
for a three month period. Billie Jo asked that we get back on the
three month cycle and divide the funds up for different maturity
dates. We would like to have one expire every three months, based
on our expenses throughout the year. Billie Jo recommended that we
take out $50,000 CDs every three months.
a. 1 one CDs maturing every three months
b. One large money market account

5. State President’s Resource Section of the web site
Vickie has been working on the State Presidents web site to provide
state presidents with resources regarding MASFAA and state issues
and ideas. The costs would be $525 for a one time set up fee. We
will move forward with the idea. Vickie will follow up with the
initiative. The charges will be put under the WEB committee.
Billie Jo will report to exec as an action item, but there is no
need to vote on it.

6. Services requested for RFP
Billie Jo asked for a recommendation on what we would be doing with
our RFP for taxes or do we need an RFP. Billie Jo has asked an
accountant and the tax preparation would run for less than $2000.
Do we want to do an internal audit on our own? Based on our tax
situation in the past, it was suggested that a firm prepare our
taxes. We could put a RFP out for three prices: one for each
section, tax preparation, audit and possibly both. We have used
Merriweather as our official address which may be a conflict of
interest and could cause a liability. After we see what the costs
will be for an audit, it may end up as an internal procedure.
a. Tax preparation
b. Audit services

7. Waiver of conference registration for Treasurer Elect
There had been previous discussions on waiving conference
registration fees for all elected officers. Review of current
waivers was presented. Discussion ensued on the pros and cons of
waiving the fee. It could encourage more individuals to participate
in the elected officer positions that might not have well funded
travel through their institutions. There are many responsibilities
that the treasurer elect has to do before and during the
conference. The finance committee will recommend to the board that
the registration for the treasurer elect be waived for the
conference, because of all the extra work for the conference and
they cannot attend many of the conference functions.

8. Insurance changes
Billie Jo received a letter from the insurance company and that
there will be a new underwriter with extended coverage. We aren’t
losing any coverage and may be gaining more coverage.

9. Speaker contract
At the last conference an issue surfaced with regard to what a
contract for speakers should cover. Billie Jo presented a sample
contract and it is very specific with regard to what we will or will
not cover. There was been some miscommunication between a speaker
and the conference committee. Therefore, specifics must be spelled
out with regard to travel, hotel, meals, etc.

10. Other
Samantha has a number of boxes filled with treasurer’s items.
Billie Jo stated that records retention requires MASFAA to keep the
items for a period of time. A suggestion was made to forward the
boxes to the Archives Committee. This suggestion would keep the
documents in a central, consistent location. Would the documents be
scanned as in imaging and then save on a disk and also on the
server. Samantha will check with Rick Shipman regarding imaging and
Arman Habegger regarding the archives.

Ernesto sent an email regarding the old lap top that he still has
possession of. Previous old laptops have been given to charity. An
example would be to contact Ginny Biada to see if her husband’s
organization could use it.

Vickie stated that NASFAA is producing a forum on how to finance
education. Pam Fowler is one of the chairs and she is concerned
about the number of participants. Vickie and Pam asked if MASFAA
would be willing to send a member to the forum. The expenses could
be covered for a MASFAA member based on invitation only. There were
only 140 individuals across the country that were invited.

We need to be prepared for a response on the mileage rate.

Billie Jo asked what expenses are covered during travel, such as
internet access. Some of the regional organizations are negotiating
that issue with hotels with the contract. Internet access must be
paid for by the membership.

NEXT MEETING: April 6, 2006, Des Moines, IA
MEETING ADJOURNED:
SUBMITTED BY: Karen Kopp

POSTED BY: Billie Jo Hamilton