[Ofa_boardplus] August 10, 2017 minutes

[Jason Gunthorpe]

On Thu, Aug 17, 2017 at 11:36:22AM -0700, Jim Ryan wrote:

> It's not a "reserve" in any sense of the word. You're right, Jason,
> we can't do anything with that number. The correct way to view this
> is to know the cash we have as shown on the balance sheet, which I
> haven't seen for a long time. The last info I have on this is from a
> Treasurer's Report from Bill on 7/19/17, which said we had a cash
> balance of $419,894 as of 6/30/17.

Even knowing current cash in the bank & operating capital is not
enough. The Board really needs to see an estimated monthly cash flow
worksheet (with estimated monthly cash balance calculations) for the
next year.

This is the because the OFA operates largely on a yearly 'collect
dues' then 'spend dues' cycle. I would expect very large swings in the
cash balance over the year. The overall budget is >$300k, so depending
on where in the cycle we are today the $419k is could be a huge
surplus or enough to get through the budgeted year with some left
over.

When we can learn the minimum projected operating capital level for
the next year then we we can start to talk about how much of that is
an appropriate reserve and how much is a surplus.

> - What is our cash position and how much do we need to hold in
> reserve, reflecting our "fiduciary responsibility"

A board that is not receiving standard financial data in a timely
manner is absolutely not able to act as a fiduciary.

Every board member should have a good think on that considering the
OFA has an open treasurer position.

Jason