[Businessmtg] Treasury Transparency

[logmark at comcast.net]

Biz-Pals,

I'm not sure where this discussion is headed,
but, with many new members, I thought it might
just be beneficial to outline how the treasury
is set up so members and officers can be assured
that all is on the up-and-up.

We have two layers of double checking of our
accounts. At our web site there is a complete
listing of all individual donations with amount,
zip code, and check number listed for each. The
first layer of assurance is each donor going to
the site and confirming that their donation has
been received and listed. Secondly, the
Treasurer mails to our List Administrator the
original of each month's bank statement allowing
the LA to confirm that the activities the
Treasurer reports on the published Register
and the activities and month-end balances from
the Statements all match up.

PayPal donations are recorded on the Register
also. Each member can ID their PayPal donation
using their PayPal transaction number. The List
Administrator has full access to our PayPal
accounts and can easily check that the receipts,
balance, and transfers to our bank account as
listed on the Register and in the Treasurer's
Reports match up.

[ Go to: http://www.asp-afg.org/ASP/MembersOnly/index.htm ]
- click on "7th Tradition"
- scroll down to (and click on) "Financial Report"
- click on year of donation.

So, unless the Treasurer AND the List Administrator
are in cahoots, there is no way the treasurer could
mishandle funds without setting off a number of red
flags in the process.

The worst-case senario would be a Treasurer or List
Administrator draining our funds and never being heard
of again. While it would be a crime, exactly what
could we do about it from our computers around the
world? For one, I would expect the Trusted Servants
could file charges in the home State/Province of the
(Treasurer or List Administrator.) My guess would be
that that's one headache no one wants to think about.

I have mentioned in the past that I think that
our Prudent Reserve ($1200) ought to be physically
separated from our Treasury account.
Doing so would assure that even if a Treasurer
went bad the most we would lose would be a few
hundred dollars while the PR (one year's expenses)
would still be on hand to keep ASP's doors open.
The question then arises: where should the PR
reside and who would be responsible for it.

The best ideas I can come up with would be:
1) Since our major expense by far is our monthly
   server payment (Esoserve) and the purpose of
   our Prudent Reserve is to assure that ASP will
   continue to physically function, we could pay
   Esoserve one year's expenses in advance then
   continue to pay each month thereafter. Sounds silly
   perhaps, but it does the job the PR is intended to
   do. What, though, if Esosoft were to go belly up?
2) Enlist the one person who has demonstrated a
   willingness to fully support ASP on his own dime
   in the past to hold the Prudent Reserve for the
   Group. What, though, if that certain Founder
   should kick the bucket (Oh, my!?) :-)
3) Leave the Prudent Reserve in the account used
   by the Past Treasurer while transferring the
   balance over the PR to the account set up by
   the new Treasurers.

The truth is we can never be 100% assured that
an Untrustworthy Servant couldn't steal funds.
About all we can do is spread the funds out in
a way that would limit the damage done by a bad
apple.

Jerry
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