VFC Financials & Cash on Hand

[Rory]

Looking over the current VFC web site I see that it contains
appreciably less financial information than was previously the case.
Specifically, the board has changed from reporting actual cash on hand
to a much vaguer "owner equity" number, which reports gross receipts
from members but does not indicate how much of that remains. All
useful financial data has been moved to the private FMYI site and is
available to owners only on an authorized-invitation basis (if that).

According to the most recent minutes available at
http://www.vancouverfood.coop/p_documents/boardminutes/oct08_bod.html,
"As of Sept. 26th, 2008, we have 170 owners and $28,965 in member
equity."

Given that my memory is of $12,000 in payments to CDS consultants and
approximately $3,000 authorized for board training and $3,000 for
marketing, this could be a significant oversight.

Did grants really cover all board training costs? When was this money
received? The 2007 harvest dinner brought in almost $4,000 in
receipts, but there is no notice whatsoever I can see as to money
raised (after expenses) for the 2008 harvest dinner.

Knowing how much money was collected from owners is potentially
deceptive if there is no disclosure of expenses incurred and cash on
hand.

Given that the budget announced at the 29 February 2008 meeting
assumed income from 600 owners by the end of calendar 2008 (and that
current numbers are not even a third of that), this is a question
worth asking.

Does anyone know what the current financial status of VFC is? How much
of the owner equity collected is still available and how much has been
spent?

[Rory]

Data gleaned from documents at http://www.vancouverfood.coop/p_documents/boardminutes/

10Jan08: "Sharon reports approximately 110 owners with $19,870
collected: $21,523 in bank"

13feb08: "SKB reports bank balance of $28,444. Now at 129-132 owners"

12mar08: "Treasurer Report (SKB): Report from treasurer as is, with
modification: total at final will be $24,570.00."

14may08: "Treasury: Balance as of 3/31/08 $24,965.21"

Failure to note current cash on hand or make this data available to
owners seems pretty darn sketchy to me. How can there be meaningful
accountability with no transparency?

VFC owners deserve better.

[Glenna Rose]

Correction to the financial information in that I see nothing on the
FMYI site. As a member of the outreach committee, I have access to
that. I went there and see nothing. Having said that, I will likely
be "dropped" from it now.

I am especially interested in the financial information given that is
exactly what lenders will look at. Unless it was given at the
November board meeting which I chose not to attend, there has not been
a cash on hand report since June when the board voted to spend another
$3,000 (or $3,500) on training with approximately $24,000 cash on hand
and approximately $27,000 collected in owner equity. They then also
voted to spend owner equity "as needed" meaning they authorized
themselves to spend owner equity with no set amount to be set side for
opening a store or to show financial responsibility to potential
lenders. That may have been the July meeting; if it is important to
anyone, I can look back for the exact date and amounts as I attended
both meetings.

We are getting numbers of owners and equity collected but no
accounting of exactly how that equity has been spent and is being
spent. That is the problem with someone without business experience
guiding decisions, not understanding the importance of how money is
handled if a loan is ever needed. Perhaps they can raise the million
dollars they said at the August owners meeting they need to open a
store and do it without obtaining loans. They could buy lottery
tickets and get it that way, ya think?

Sorry, folks, I have worked as a full-charge bookkeeper, started and
run my own service bureau for a dozen years, and was business manager
for a construction company. That gives me a somewhat informed view of
how all that works. Unless some real financial responsibility raises
its head and stays, any potential lenders will run the other way.

Glenna

============

--
---<-@ Glenna Rose @->---

I cannot change the world, but I can make my little corner better.

[Rory Bowman]

I wish that shame was not such a strong motivator for
the current board, but the electronic co-op news just
arrived and indicates that the harvest dinner "netted
$3006."

Cash on hand is a critical number, especially given
how far off-budget the owner drive currently is. A
monthly report of current bank balances has been a
standard part of almost every board I've ever been on,
usually with a summary of receipts and payments made,
including notes on how that compares to past averages
or what unusual expenses are.

If the numbers were good, I would expect to see them
featured quite prominently.

[Rory]

I have prepared a Google doc on owner drive progress and financials as
best I remember them or can piece them together from past minutes. It
is fairly standard procedure among most organizations I have been part
of for any financial report to include information for the past few
months, past four quarters, and annual summaries from previous years,
so I've organized the Google doc that way

It is in two "sheets" with the first showing owner drive progress and
the second showing financial progress. Some owner should ask that
treasurer Rustin Brewer, CPA, fill out and distribute such a thing,
for general owner confidence and transparency.

http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pcu84d3MW6gf6GjcNN9gaMg&gid=1