14 February 1997
REPORT
of the
NSS SECRETARY/TREASURER
- Attachment E -
BACKGROUND: The July 1996 Secretary-Treasurer report defined the overall vision for where
we are going and the division of responsibilities between those who are doing the work. The
October 1996 S-T report located our funds, discussed our real property legal records, defined
goals for changing the way we manage our NSF Trust Funds, and described how we plan to
change our accounting system.
OVERVIEW: Since the last Board of Governors meeting we've concentrated on developing a
budget for FY97/98 NSS activities and developing changes to our contract with NSF under which
they manage our Trust Funds. This report also addresses the current status of routine NSS
financial activities.
INDIVIDUAL ACTIVITY:
Dave Irving continued to pay our NSS committee & publication bills on time and provided the
income projections upon which we based the proposed FY97/98 budget. Several times each
month both Camalie Duke and Dave broadcaster (by e-mail) pending and recently paid bills to
allow the other officers to administer their departments. He also provided our Certified Public
Account (Mr. Allen Bell in Atlanta) with the information necessary to file our FY95/96 federal tax
return. We previously filed for an extension to submit our return as late as 15 March 1997.
Completing the tax return continues to be a labor intensive task because our current accounting
system does not record all of the required information. NSS conventions and NCRC seminars are
activities currently outside of our accounting system. He's now working on a six-month FY96/97
fiscal report which will be available by the Board of Governors meeting.
Bill Stringfellow continued to lead our effort to develop a new NSS chart of accounts (COA) that
will work with the LedgerMaster software we adopted last year to integrate NSS office
accounting, membership, and bookstore financial systems. It reflects the recent NSS committee
reorganization and integrates NCRC and NSS convention activities into our accounting system. It
will allow us to file federal tax returns on time by eliminating the current need to manually
integrate NCRC and NSS convention fiscal data with NSS corporate data. It will also remove one
of the obstacles preventing a NSS financial audit by an independent certified public accountant.
Marla Steele worked to gain visibility into NCRC regional & national rescue seminar fiscal
activities which have been conducted outside of our corporate books. She managed NCRC
corporate financial transactions and reconciled NCRC regional & seminar bank account
statements. She's developed a data base that describes most of the Society's personal assets with
the exception of those located at the NSS office. Tom Rea has agreed to inventory those in the
next month.
Camille Duke continued to pay general NSS office expenses and maintain NSS office accounting
records.
Scott Fee continued to perform the accounting for NSS News advertising. Currently we're
discussing how to project the NSS News ad income carried as a budget addition in the NSS News
operating budget.
Jim Wilson closed the 1996 NSS Salida convention bank account and transferred the surplus to
Dave Irving. Debra Quamen continues to be occupied with 1997 NSS convention finances.
Recently she opened a bank account in Sullivan Missouri. Bill Stringfellow and Peggy Kesner
have bank accounts and budgets in place for the 1998 and 1999 NSS conventions. Scot Fee is
reconciling the 1988 NSS convention bank account. Bill Stringfellow is reconciling the 1999 NSS
convention bank account.
Janet Thorne will be retiring as the liaison between the NSF and NSS after decades of service so
she can devote more time to her other activities. She asked Ted Kayes to brief the Trustees on the
methods and value of charitable giving at their March 23, 1997 meeting in Pittsburgh. This may
also be of significant interest to BOG members as well, not only for their own financial planning,
but also have the information if asked by another member.
Ted Kayes arranged for the NSS purchase of liability insurance for NCRC seminars and is now
working on liability insurance for the NCRC trailer. He reviewed property liability coverage
provided by the Land Trust Alliance and was active in our efforts to consider the
advantages/disadvantages of separately incorporating NCRC.
GENERAL ACTIVITY AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS
FY97/98 Budget:
The proposed FY97/98 budget included with this report conforms with the new NSS accounting
system described in the October 1996 S/T report. I t divides our financial activity into four
financial divisions (cost centers) whose accounting will be done separately then posted to the NSS
general ledger. This division reflects how we've already allocated the Society's accounting tasks.
The financial divisions are:
NSS Corporate - NSS current operations (not including NSS Office), NSS restricted funds, NSF-held funds (current value tracking), funds-held-for-others, and staff-related expenses (payroll, benefits, etc.).
NSS Office - All NSS Office financial activity including dues income, NSS bookstore sales, VISA/MC sales, and office operation expenses.
NSS Conventions
NCRC
The Board of Governors has traditionally reviewed and approved only that portion of the NSS
operating budget now labeled "NSS Office" and "NSS Corporate". The attached FY97/98
budget makes visible the significant cash flow associated with NSS conventions & NCRC
seminars, but we've yet to establish the process and tools required to properly budget and
manage these funds. We propose FY97/98 be considered a transition year as we fully integrating
NCRC and NSS conventions into our accounting system. We will propose an aggregate budget
for your approval next year.
NSS Trust Funds & NSF::
The March 1997 NSS Board of Governor agenda includes motions to change our NSS Trust
Funds contract based upon excellent recommendations received from Roger McClure (for the
NSF) and Bill Mixon. Also included on the agenda is the proposed contract with the NSF to
administer the NSS Endowment Fund.
FY96/97 Six Month Report:
The FY96/97 six-month report will be provided at the Board of Governors March 1997 meeting.
Separate NCRC Incorporation:
At our November 1996 meeting the Board of Governors directed the S/T to consider whither the
NCRC should be separately incorporated from the NSS. The issue was considered by the NCRC
Board of Regional Coordinators, the NSS Legal Committee, the NSS Insurance Committee, and
the NSS Executive Committee. If NCRC was spun off and incorporated as a separate
organization the risk of the NSS being held liable for their actions would be reduced to the extent
a court found NCRC to be totally outside of NSS control and the NSS had no involvement in the
issue under litigation. After considering all the ramifications of separately incorporating NCRC,
the NCRC Board of Regional Coordinators and the NSS Executive Committee both recommend
against separately incorporating NCRC.
Miscellaneous:
Highlights of other financial activity include:
We had sufficient cash reserve to pay $44,353 to publish On Rope II without a loan.
Our future cash flow will be dominated by sales from On Rope II, the cost to publish the revised Cave Minerals and its subsequent sales. Depending upon the timing of these sales we may need to obtain a loan.
The Social Security Administration noted differences between our 1995 W-2 Withholding
reports for our office employees (Vickie Nixon, Juanite Jones, and Sheila Smith) and our
Quarterly Form 941 reports. These reports were filed on our behalf by the company we employed
at that time to service our payroll. Dave Irving is now working to resolve the discrepancies.
FUTURE ACTIVITIES:
Our priority between now and the June 1997 BOG meeting will be to continue to keep up with the bills and file our federal tax returns. Other tasks include:
further evolve the NSF-NSS relationship such that our two organizations work more closely together in managing the investment of NSS assets.
publish the initial LedgerMaster NSS chart of accounts and integrate NSS office accounting, membership, and bookstore financial systems. Run both financial systems (current DacEasy and new LedgerMaster) in parallel for a few months and compare the results. Begin to expand the use of the new LedgerMaster system to our other cost centers ( NCRC and NSS conventions)
complete a data base of NSS fixed assets, track their location over time, and account for their value in our fiscal reports
complete codifying our financial policies in the Board of Governors Manual so they can be visible, maintained, and updated over time.
continue make progress toward improving our financial system so we can efficiently file federal
tax returns on time and undergo an audit by an independent certified public accountant.
Paul Stevens
NSS Secretary/Treasurer