OIAA Finance Committee 

Record of Minutes

Saturday, February 10, 2024

9:00am – am HDT

11:00am – pm   PDT

2:00pm -pm EDT

Attendees : 

Jennifer – OIAA  Treasurer

Felix – OIAA Alt-Treasure

Barry – Long time Finance Committee Member / Former Secretary

Erica K. – Finance Subcommittee Member

Nicky – Finance Committee  Secretary

Jennifer leads Serenity Prayer.  All in Attendance join in.  

Review of Agenda 

Jennifer begins the screen share and displays the Agenda.  She notes that the most important thing on  the Agenda to her  is the Financial Review Update.  She asks if there is anything additional to add to the Agenda.  She accepts a motion to accept the Agenda from Barry, “as presented”.  Felix seconds.  Jennifer asks for any opposition.  No opposition.    

APPROVAL OF AGENDA

Review of Prior Months Minutes 

Jennifer says that there were a few grammatical and numerical errors to change which was discussed with Nicky before the meeting.   She then asks if everyone has been able to review the Minutes. Since it is not answered, Jennifer asks everyone to take a few minutes to read over the Minutes .   Jennifer scrolls on screen.  The error that was previously discussed was written $450 (each) for the crew that went to the National Tech Workshop, but in correction it was for (all) of the 10 individuals.  Jennifer asks if there are any other changes the group sees.  No one replies, so she asks for a Motion to Accept.  Felix makes the motions and Erica seconds.  Jennifer asks if Nicky could make the changes and to send back to her so she can update the website.  

APPROVAL OF PRIOR MONTHS MINUTES

Review of Financial Statements

 Jennifer starts with the Budget Variance for January.  She states that they are also posted to the website.  Revenues are just under $8500 which is just over a thousand dollars over budget.  She believes the budget will be a bit conservative, which is good, because the budget has a deficit.  She states that Paypal and Stripe are associated with Revenues and that and that it has proven successful.   There are  Professional Fees of $70.00.  Our Tech Special Worker was just under $1500.   The Special Workers category had been accrued in 2023 to get it into the correct period for the year end. Jennifer states that throughout the year, we can go on a cash basis, but that at the end of the year, we should accrue for everything.  Also, that all of the IGR Forum invoices have not been submitted yet, so we will be seeing more expenses in February.  For our Zoom account, under Video Conferences, there will now be two Zoom accounts.  Previously, it had been discussed to have a Professional account, which would have been $2,500.00.   It seemed best to just go with 2 Zoom accounts instead.as it is significantly lower in price.  Website Hosting Management has to do with the Google Expenses and also included a payment to Deep L, the translation program previously discussed.   Many people have discussed this program and the OIAA are even exploring getting several accounts for OIAA.  The Board will be discussing this expense and if the price is over $500 annually, they will bring it to the Assembly.  Jennifer asks for any questions on the Budget Variance.  Felix asks to know why the Organizational Fees are lower than expected.  Jennifer answers that there is  $500 designated for legal fees and  purposes ,  Barry adds that they have to pay Organization Fees in New Jersey,  Felix states that it is contingent on whether it would or would not occur. Jenifer replies that there is nothing on the horizon and that the Chair had asked to budget for it.   Barry says after a year or two we should remove it and that it shouldn’t just live there forever.  Felix asks if they should be accruing for this and/or setting money aside for this possibility.  Jennifer disagrees because she sees no probability of a threat on the horizon.  Barry  agrees and asks where the nickel came from on the statement  Jennifer answers that it is Interest!  They joke about how we are making money!  Felix would like to ask about accruing for the Translating for the Assembly/Board.  He believes we should be setting money aside for this.  Jennifer answers that it does not need to be accrued since it is already in the Budget as it is a definite expense.  Felix would like to clarify the next line item and states that maybe he is not reading it clearly.  Jennifer states that the Assembly Board had budgeted $1040.00 and originally there were to be Workshops available for the Guidelines.  She says that there are two scheduled for February and one in March.  She also believes the Budget for Translation is high, but that they will probably budget more.  Barry agrees that its always better to budget very conservatively on Revenue and very aggressively on Expenses.  

Jennifer brings up the Contribution Statement.  Felix wants to say that when going through the financial statements, sometimes he sees Groups 1, 2, and 3 and they do not have names.  Jennifer advises that she would reach out to them and just ask them the name of their group.  She gives them an example of a check that was received where she reached out to them and it was actually a mistake.  She ended up refunding.  She says that if there is an opportunity to reach out to the groups, to do it.  Jennifer would like to note that she has changed this report to reflect the changes they had discussed in the previous meeting.  She changed the individual names to just one line item showing personal contributions.  Felix asks if we can sort them by numerical value.  Jennifer says she could, but she has it alphabetical.  Felix says that he is curious to know where some of the groups are from and that sometimes there is no indication of it on the actual contributions.  Jennifer says that Paypal has a report for this.  She would also like to add that she does not like to see statements listed from highest to lowest.  Barry agrees that it is not about the amount of the contribution at all.  He says it was grading when he would see some committees (outside of OIAA) list the big bulks first and diminish those that were lessor.  Jennifer agrees that she would not list as such.  Felix understands that this is a good way the groups can find their names easily when looking at this report.  Jennifer agrees. 

Jennifer brings up the Prudent Reserve and shows that it reflects the 6 months.  She states that she moved the previous $60,0000, moved over the agreed amount to Checking. She goes over how Tech 12 didn’t cash their check for weeks.  When they finally did, Jenifer had to take it off Accounts Payable in February.  She continues that the $5500 is for the 2025 International Convention accrual.  Felix would like to ask if it would be easy to add trend analysis to these reports.  For example,it could show how they have been doing for the last 6 months etc.  Jennifer believes that this is reflective in the Budget Variance since it shows year to date. Jennifer says that she is not going to put another task on her plate, but she tells Felix to feel free and chart the progression if he would like.  Felix replies that he will look into doing this.  Barry asks Felix if he knows how to find this in Excel and that you can see the charting available.  Jennifer explains that Excel’s Report area could help.  Felix say that he will learn.  

Erica begins her Update on the Finance Committee Financial Review.  She asks Jennifer if she has the document to share.  Jennifer shares on screen.  Erica begins by telling everyone that the Financial Review is pretty much completed except for 2 items.  She says that Karen has one document that has been difficult and that she has been working on it at home.  Once this document has been completed, Karen will submit it to her and then she can complete the final report to give to the Chair.  Jennifer states that she should submit it directly to the Board as she does not want to influence it in any way.  Erica asks if anyone has any questions thus far.  No one replies, so she continues.  She refers to the document and says that the yellow markings are what is outstanding and she is waiting on Karen to review and give her assessment.  Jennifer asks if she has everything she needs. Erica replies that she does and that they can now be removed from the Mercury account.  Erica says that everyone can review the document as it is an attachment that was sent.  Barry says that the final review should go to the Board because the Board is acting as the overview of the Financial Committee.  Erica replies that Susan has the Review.  Barry thanks Erica for doing the work.  Erica says that it was really fun to do and a learning process.  She asks if she should make herself available to the Board for questions about the Review.  Barry replies that she  absolutely should and to let them know that she is ready.  He also suggests to put it on the Agenda.  Jennifer adds that she should send it to the entire Board.  Barry agrees and says she should do both: send to the entire Board and put it on the Agenda for discussion.  Jennifer states that tomorrow is their monthly board meeting and asks if she would be ready to answer questions.  Erica replies that she thinks next month would be a good time.  She could submit it to the Board, they can look it over and ask any questions.  She believes there is no rush as everything is “totally in order and organized.”  Jennifer is happy that Erica dropped that little bit of information as she was curious about the findings.  Erica replies that they looked for weeks and all during the day with “5 eyeballs on it” and they came up with absolutely nothing askew.  Jennifer says she is happy there is an independent opinion on the books.  She appreciates and believes the membership will be comfortable with the results.  She thanks Erica for stepping up for the task.  Erica says that it will be a lot easier next year since they now know how to do it and can teach somebody else how to do it.  Jennifer says that she is glad they have created a process for the generalization of an Internal Financial Review.  Barry would like to warn Erica about the possibility of some cranky comments from a few people.  Erica says she is ready.  Jennifer asks how often this report should occur?  Erica says it is  recommended  once every 3 years, but she and Leslie believe that once a year minimum.  She feels twice a year minimum would be best.  Jennifer replies that she was thinking about the same amount and congratulate them on a great job.  She says that you can’t get much better than getting a Financial Review done by February so they can continue on with the year.  Jennifer asks if there are any more questions or comments for the Financial Review Team.  There are none.  

No Questions or Comments 

FINANCIAL STATEMENTS COMPLETED

Jennifer pulls up the Agenda again and wants to give a Stripe update.  She reiterates that we do have the platform and it is active.  She says that as far as dollar value, they have received greater contributions than PayPal.  She noticed that we were not getting the nonprofit rate so she contacted them and they said they will update it in a week, so the change should be upcoming.  Felix would like to ask which platform we get charged more from?  Stripe or Paypal?  Jennifer answers that Paypal is .49 cents per transaction plus 1.98 %.  Stripe is .30 cents a transaction plus 2.2%.  Jennifer asks if there are any other concerns about Stripe.  Jennifer asks Felix how the reconciliation was for him.  Felix replies that it was easy and there was no difference whatsoever.  Felix states that there was a strange movement at the very beginning.  Jennifer replies that that was the fee associated with it and that she had to sync it.  She also had to put some manual entries into the system to make it work the correct way and in the period she wanted.  She also adds that they received a recurring payment and that she has suspended it. She explained that it was from a member who specified it was for a certain group, however, its name from a corporation.  She tried to reach out to the person and there has been no response.  She doesn’t know whether it is a corporation owned by an AA member, or a corporation.  We received 4 $25.00 payments from Strategy Matters with notes that it is from a certain group.  She explains that  we could either refund the $100 and suspend the payments in the future, or keep the $100 we received and say that  corporations owned by AA members can give contributions.  Barry wants to add that  there is a policy about what we can and cannot accept. Since this is a governance issue, it can be brought up to the Board and allow the committee to make a determination.  Jennifer would like to know what the opinions of the Finance committee members are.  Erica says that she cannot contribute a response as she is too tired.  Felix answers that he believes that we shouldn’t be accepting any funds in this situation.  He believes we should discuss it with the Board first.  Jennifer answers that she believes the same way and she has suspended the payments since she can’t get ahold of anyone to answer for the payments and/or group.  She also says that Susan went to the place where it was to be coming from and that they weren’t familiar with the name of the person.  She says that this is pretty odd.  Jennifer says that this is on the Board Agenda for tomorrow.  She asks if there is any other business that anyone would like to discuss.  Jennifer calls for a motion to close.  Felix makes a motion to close the meeting.  

Jennifer Closes with the Responsibility Statement