The following report from Garfield Byrd was sent to the UK Board by Jon Davies on 11 October 2012. This version of the report was reviewed with Jon Davies (WMUK CEO) and John Byrne (WMUK Hon. Treasurer) at the time, and agreed to be made public. I am uploading to this wiki for ease of reference. --Fæ (talk) 14:26, 31 October 2012 (UTC)
| Report from Garfield Byrd
|
| October 10, 2012
In doing this review, I want to acknowledge the cooperation and transparency of the Wikimedia UK staff and Board of Trustees.
Based
on a review of the financial records of Wikimedia UK, meetings with Jon
Davies, Richard Symonds, John Byrne (Treasurer), Ashley van Haeften
(Trustee), and Michael Peel (Secretary) I have noted the following:
-
Items that are good or showing clear improvement in process:
-
Expenditures controls and documentation are good and are now being properly recorded in the Sage accounting system.
- There is a consistent commitment to continue to make improvements in the financial systems and reporting.
- Wikimedia UK has good payroll controls in place with good separation of duties and good pre and post payroll review.
- External
parties can rely on the reports of the external auditors for status on
the items they are reviewing as fairly representing both the challenges
and the progress of Wikimedia UK.
-
Items of concern:
-
The
potential for conflict of interest or the appearance of conflict of
interest will exist as long as the Board of Trustees of Wikimedia UK
continue to both attempt to perform a governance role and do program
roles within Wikimedia UK.
-
It
is recommended that Wikimedia UK have volunteers choose between
governance roles and program roles and not attempt to do both.
-
Wikimedia
UK has a good banking system which provides for good internal controls
and separation of duties; but, the cash balances in some accounts in the
Sage accounting system are not up to date even after a completed month
end. -
I
recommend they place additional focus on having the reconciled bank
statements and the balance in the Sage accounting system reconciled each
month.
-
It
is also suggested that they update their cash flow document on a more
frequent basis for cash planning and as another report to show
reconciled and projected cash balances.
-
With
a greater integration of the Sage accounting system in the fiscal life
of the organization, it is important that Wikimedia UK put in place a
system for documenting and approving all general ledger entries. -
I
recommend to Wikimedia UK that they have a system in place, with clear
separation of duties, to have documentation and approval of general
ledger entries.
-
The
auditors report has listed several items for improvement of the
financial systems of Wikimedia UK. Even though there is a universal
commitment to resolving the items in the report, there is no agreed
upon plan for resolving the open items in the auditors management
letter. -
I
recommend to Wikimedia UK, that Jon, John and Richard agree to a plan
to resolve the open items on the management letter to ensure alignment
and agreed upon priorities.
-
There
is a good use of CiviCRM by Wikimedia UK, but currently there is not a
plan to reconcile CiviCRM to the Sage accounting system. -
I recommend that Wikimedia UK, implement a process to reconcile CiviCRM and the Sage accounting system.
-
Paypal
is an important part the fundraising process of Wikimedia UK, at this
time the Paypal account balances are not accurately reflected in the
Sage accounting system. -
I recommend that Wikimedia UK develop and implement a process to reconcile the Paypal account to the Sage accounting system.
-
Even
with good documentation of of expenditures, current reporting does not
appear to be meeting the needs of the Board of Trustee and the Chief
Executive. -
I
recommend that a list of desired reports be created and that Richard be
given the time to create and iterate the reports to meet the needs of
the Board of Trustees and the Chief Executive.
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