Author: Doug Holland
Edition: Model Aviation - 2010/02
Page Numbers: 152

AMA News — Chief Financial Officer (2010/02)

Doug Holland; [email protected]

Doug Holland Chief Financial Officer

3517 Fernwood Dr. Raleigh, NC 27612 Home: (919) 787-5163 Work: (919) 781-7550

In giving you financial information in other years, it has always been reports of past periods. This time, I am going to give you information on the budget process. To the right is a timeline for compiling the information the budget committee needs. You can see that it takes a lot of time and effort to gather the information.

Budget compilation timeline

  1. Send out worksheet to departments — Duration: 1 day — Start: Fri. 7/24/09 — Finish: Fri. 7/24/09
  2. Departments work on POW/Budget — Duration: 9 days — Start: Mon. 7/27/09 — Finish: Thu. 8/6/09
  3. First draft due from departments — Duration: 1 day — Start: Fri. 8/7/09 — Finish: Fri. 8/7/09
  4. Comptroller reviews department info. — Duration: 5 days — Start: Mon. 8/10/09 — Finish: Fri. 8/14/09
  5. Meetings with departments to review draft — Duration: 3 days — Start: Wed. 8/12/09 — Finish: Fri. 8/14/09
  6. Department corrections made — Duration: 4 days — Start: Mon. 8/17/09 — Finish: Thu. 8/20/09
  7. Department budgets with corrections due — Duration: 1 day — Start: Fri. 8/21/09 — Finish: Fri. 8/21/09
  8. Follow-up meetings with departments — Duration: 9 days — Start: Mon. 8/24/09 — Finish: Thu. 9/3/09
  9. AMA composite budget due (first draft) — Duration: 1 day — Start: Fri. 9/4/09 — Finish: Fri. 9/4/09
  10. Comptroller adjustments to draft budget — Duration: 14 days — Start: Mon. 9/7/09 — Finish: Thu. 9/24/09
  11. Final draft completed — Duration: 1 day — Start: Fri. 9/25/09 — Finish: Fri. 9/25/09
  12. Finance committee reviews budget — Duration: 1 day — Start: Fri. 10/2/09 — Finish: Fri. 10/2/09
  13. Committee-approved changes made — Duration: 1 day — Start: Mon. 10/5/09 — Finish: Mon. 10/5/09
  14. Committee-approved draft to committee members — Duration: 1 day — Start: Tue. 10/6/09 — Finish: Tue. 10/6/09
  15. Committee-approved POW/Budget to Executive Committee members — Duration: 1 day — Start: Fri. 10/9/09 — Finish: Fri. 10/9/09
  16. Executive Committee meeting — Duration: 0 days — Start: Sat. 10/31/09 — Finish: Sat. 10/31/09

The information gathered from these meetings results in this letter from the Executive Director, Jim Cherry, to the Budget Committee. A copy of that letter follows.

October 2, 2009

Gentlemen:

The preparation of the 2010 budget has been a difficult process because of the cuts each department had to make as a result of a decrease in membership dues. The staff has continued to improve on its Program of Work, which has become an integral part of the budget process. The POWs will play an even greater role in the upcoming year. The staff is to be commended on its work to assemble a detailed budget which will give both the volunteers and staff a better management tool.

The budget reflects some reorganization in the staff/programs structure for 2010:

  • The Programs-Insurance department has been established as a separate department and is now called Safety & Member Benefits. Ilona Maine is the Director and Tammy Morris has been transferred to this department, a position that was budgeted for in 2009. Tammy will also help out in other departments.
  • Contracting Current Events LLC to stage the annual AMA Expo ($16,000) for the second year.
  • Hired Mark Benson as New Media/Web Designer.

The 2010 budget contains the following:

  • The budget is broken out by departments with projected income and expense for the second year.
  • The budget is broken out by monthly income and expense to allow for a cash flow analysis. This data is not shown here in order to focus on the totals.
  • The traditional TOTAL income and TOTAL expenses format is retained in addition to a department breakout.
  • Layout of the budget is as follows:
  • AMA 2010 budget broken out by department.
  • Income page by department — top page.
  • Expense page by department — bottom page.

We continue to have a better handle on the budget because we are breaking out more expenses by department. The 2010 budget now has telephone and office supplies allocated to each department.

Jim Cherry Executive Director

More on the budget process next time.

We can't take any credit for our talents. It's how we use them that counts.

A-B-C: Always Be Courteous.

Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.