Introductions

[Patrick Masson]

Hello Jonathan and Phyllis,

I just wanted to reach out to you both to introduce you to one another.

Jonathan, please meet Phyllis Dobbs, Apereo Foundation's controller and one of the core team members who helped Apereo assess its financial history and status when I came on board. Phyllis has extensive experience in education and libraries, non-profits organizations, and open source projIn addition to her work with Apereo, she also serves in accounting and controller roles with the Python Software Foundation and Open Source Initiative.

Phyllis, Jonathan is volunteering with the Sakai PMC to help the review the internal audit Apereo conducted and the resulting findings. I spoke with Jonathan a couple of weeks ago and am sure he can help the Sakai community better understand the work we did through the financial review. He may also provide some feedback to help us better communicate or even refine our findings.

I think having you two speak, accountant to accountant, will greatly help both Sakai and Apereo get on the same page.

Thank you both so much for your help and expertise,
Patrick

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Patrick Masson
Executive Director
Apereo Foundation
9450 SW Gemini Dr PMB 98572
Beaverton, OR 97008-7105
Mobile: +1 (970) 4-MASSON
Website: www.apereo.org
Calendar: Book a call

[Phyllis Dobbs]

Hello, Jonathan,

Nice to meet you!

I can meet with you the week of September 9th. As of today, September 10th is totally open.  Do you have time that day?

Also, would you please send over questions you have prior to our meeting so I'll have time to review in advance?

Sincerely,

Phyllis Dobbs

Controller
Apereo Foundation

On Sun, Aug 25, 2024 at 4:29 PM jonathan fischer <jfisc...@msn.com> wrote:

Hi Phyllis

I'm looking forward to the opportunity to meet with you. I'm currently mostly free this coming week, so I'm flexible to virtually meet at the date and time that works best for you

I'd like to look at the most recent report that you've sent to our committee, in part to validate that I've looked at the most current report

From there, I'll be asking to look at some reports from your system. I'm not thinking this'll take too much time. General ledger detail to support the items in the summary report - revenue and expense.

I'll also be enquiring to the existence and form of any relevant balance sheet items

Please let me know your availability

Best regards

Jonathan Fischer

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From: Patrick Masson <patrick...@apereo.org>
Sent: Saturday, August 24, 2024 3:22 PM
To: jonathan fischer <jfisc...@msn.com>; Phyllis Dobbs <phylli...@apereo.org>
Cc: Sakai PMC <saka...@apereo.org>; Apereo Finance Committee <board-...@apereo.org>
Subject: Introductions

 

[Phyllis Dobbs]

Hello, Jonathan,

Let's aim for the 12th.  Are you still available at 10 am Central?  If so, I will send over a calendar invite.

Regarding records, we provided Chuck complete general ledger detail multiple times and our understanding is that all the records we shared with Chuck were then shared with you some time ago?  

Generally, to answer your question about policies and recognition, we follow standard GAAP for revenue recognition.  After Apereo and the predecessor legal entity stopped offering 3-year memberships in the early 2010's, memberships are invoiced, reclassed to deferred revenue, and then recognized across the year membership period.  Note that we often exclude deferred revenue from fiscal sponsoree statements because it can be very confusing a memberships are moving in and out of the deferred line items and affecting total revenue, as well as the bottom line.

We can certainly review the data any any questions when we meet.  If you think of any other questions in the interim, please do send them over.

Sincerely,

Phyllis Dobbs

Controller

Apereo Foundation

On Wed, Aug 28, 2024 at 1:50 PM jonathan fischer <jfisc...@msn.com> wrote:

Hi Phyllis,

It's nice to meet you as well. Sadly, I'm booked on both 9/10 and 9/11. However, I'm wide open on both 9/9 and 12

Here are a couple of starting questions 

Is the attached report the most recent report? If so, would it be possible to obtain the general ledger (revenue/expense) for a sample year, say 2023

Whas is your policy on how you recognize, report, present revenue

If the attached report is the most recent, could I get the detail of what comprises the beginning balance of (210,258)

Thank you, please let me know if either of those dates work

Best wishes for the holiday weekend

Jonathan Fischer

 

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From: Phyllis Dobbs <phylli...@apereo.org>
Sent: Wednesday, August 28, 2024 11:00 AM
To: jonathan fischer <jfisc...@msn.com>
Cc: Patrick Masson <patrick...@apereo.org>; Sakai PMC <saka...@apereo.org>; Apereo Finance Committee <board-...@apereo.org>
Subject: Re: Introductions

 

[jonathan fischer]

Hi Phyllis

Just checking back about the time of our meeting next Thursday 9/12/24.

I'm available either as proposed in your email below (10AM Central - 8AM Pacific)

I'm also available at 10AM Pacific.

Please let me know when you have a moment

I'm thinking our in-person meeting won't be long

best

Jonathan Fischer

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From: Phyllis Dobbs <phylli...@apereo.org>
Sent: Friday, August 30, 2024 7:26 AM

[Phyllis Dobbs]

Hi, Jonathan,

I sent over a meeting invite just now.  Please let me know if you did not receive it!

Laura and I have shared multiple reports including full general ledger detail with Chuck; our understanding is that all files we shared were sent to you months ago.  

Thanks,

Phyllis Dobbs

Controller

Apereo Foundation

[Patrick Masson]

Hi Jonathan,

I wanted to follow up on your progress in reviewing Apereo's and Sakai's financials. I'd like to ensure we've identified and resolved any issues. Of course you may still have open questions or concerns, and I would be happy to help with those too, so again, we can finish this up.

Thanks,
Patrick

On 9/2/24 8:22 PM, jonathan fischer wrote:

Hi Phyllis

Turns out 10 Central, 8 Pacific on 9/12 will work out just fine

Please send invite

jf

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From: Phyllis Dobbs <phylli...@apereo.org>
Sent: Friday, August 30, 2024 7:26 AM

Calendar: Book a call

[jonathan fischer]

Hi Patrick

Thanks for checking in. The information we've received is very helpful. On one hand, we know quite a bit more, but on the other, it's raised some new questions for us, which we're working through

Here's my current perception of the timeline. We're actively working on wrapping up answering the new questions that have arisen. From there, we'll have a PMC meeting to go over what we have. That'll be the first of next month, as we've a holiday next week.

Once the PMC is satisfied, we can get together, go over what we've derived from the information presented, and hopefully resolve the matter to everyone's satisfaction. I'm thinking by year end this project will be in the rear-view mirror

Best wishes for the upcoming holiday week

Jonathan Fischer

206-713-2251

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From: Patrick Masson <patrick...@apereo.org>
Sent: Wednesday, November 20, 2024 10:32 AM
To: jonathan fischer <jfisc...@msn.com>
Cc: Sakai PMC <saka...@apereo.org>; Apereo Finance Committee <board-...@apereo.org>; Apereo Board <bo...@apereo.org>
Subject: Update on Sakai Financial Review

 

[Patrick Masson]

Thank you Jonathan for the update and all the work you and the PMC have done.

Have a good holiday,
Patrick

[jonathan fischer]

Hi Patrick

We had our initial review with the PMC committee yesterday.

I've come away with a couple review notes that I'm going to need to address. They've raised some good points

Once I've addressed their review comments, I'll need to run this back by the committee to make sure they're ok

I think we're still on track for us to meet in the next week or two

Jonathan Fischer

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From: Patrick Masson <patrick...@apereo.org>
Sent: Thursday, November 21, 2024 9:15 AM

To: jonathan fischer <jfisc...@msn.com>
Cc: Sakai PMC <saka...@apereo.org>; Apereo Finance Committee <board-...@apereo.org>; Apereo Board <bo...@apereo.org>

Subject: Re: Update on Sakai Financial Review

 

[jonathan fischer]

Hi Patrick

We met again earlier today. I was able to clear my review comments with the Committee. However, in that process, another item came up for review, which I believe merits research.

Thankfully, this won't take to long to access, so I'm still optomistic that I can share our findings with you sometime later next week

Please let me know your schedule and we'll get something set up on the calendar

Thanks for your continued patience

Best wishes for the holiday season

Jonathan Fischer

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From: Patrick Masson <patrick...@apereo.org>
Sent: Thursday, November 21, 2024 9:15 AM

To: jonathan fischer <jfisc...@msn.com>
Cc: Sakai PMC <saka...@apereo.org>; Apereo Finance Committee <board-...@apereo.org>; Apereo Board <bo...@apereo.org>

Subject: Re: Update on Sakai Financial Review

 

[Patrick Masson]

Hi Jonathan,

I am open all day Friday, Dec. 20th. Would sometime that day work?

Patrick

[jonathan fischer]

Hi Patrick

Friday morning, West Coast time, will work just fine. Chuck and Wilma will hopefully be able to join us

I literally just heard from Wilma, and she's available after 1Eastern, so let's do 2 Eastern, 11 Pacific, if that's ok with you

We have a report in a shared drive that we'll share with you ahead of time. Chuck will do that

I'm looking forward to making progress on this project and I'm looking forward to talking to you about our process and observations

Please schedule a meeting and we'll go from there

Best regards

jf

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From: Patrick Masson <patrick...@apereo.org>
Sent: Wednesday, December 18, 2024 9:15 AM