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This web page serves as the focal point for information about financial management for the Lake Wilderness Arboretum Foundation (LWAF). This includes information about:
Our financial policy provides an overall set of guidelines that
drive how we manage the finances of the Lake Wilderness Arboretum
Foundation (LWAF).
People
In terms of financial management, their are three key players:
-
The LWAF President
The president appoints the Budget and Finance Committee chairperson and also
plays an important part in the authorization of expenditures.
- The Budget and Finance Committee
This committee serves as the focal point for the management and administration of LWAF finances.
This includes oversight of LWAF financial records and transactions as well as the development
and maintenance of LWAF financial procedures.
- The LWAF Treasurer
This individual is a key member of the Budget and Finance Committee, pays the
Arboretum's bills, and is the focal point for financial management data provided
to the Board.
Our financial management process describes the people and procedures they must follow in order
to effectively manage the financial business of the Arboretum Foundation. Procedures include the
approval of budget, authorization of expenses, payment of bills, and the monthly reporting
of actual versus budgeted income and expenses. People performing these procedures include
the Board, account managers,
the treasurer, the Budget and Finance Committee, and the Foundation's bookkeeper.
2008_Budget
Each year an annual budget is developed and approved. The budget is apportioned among
account managers, each of whom are responsible for first forecasting their needs and then
managing their expenses within their approved budget. A major part of our budget process is requesting
and subsequently receiving grant money from the City of Maple Valley. Listed below is a link to our 2008 budget. This
document shows
all income and expense accounts, the approved amount for each account, and some descriptive commentary.
Following the budget link are several other links to key
documents that provide information about our Maple Valley grant request and subsequent grant award.
- 2008 Budget
This spreadsheet shows our Board-approved budget for 2008. Any change to the budget throughout the year will be
reflected in this document. This report can be used by account managers to determine the correct
account number for
income and expense items.
- LWAF Grant Request
In August of 2008, LWAF submitted this memo to the City of Maple Valley requesting funds to help
maintain and improve the Arboretum in 2008.
- Maple Valley Grant Award
In January of 2008, Maple Valley awarded LWAF a $36,000 grant as documented in this memo. This money
will be used to maintain and improve the
Arboretum in 2008.
- Mapping of the Grant to the Budget
This spreadsheet shows how the $36,000 awarded to the Arboretum will be allocated to specific expense accounts.
Forms
Shown below are forms used to manage the budget and authorized expenses against it.
- Expense Voucher
This voucher is used to obtain pre-authorization to procure one or more items
or it is used to obtain subsequent reimbursement for expenditures already made. The
account manager must sign this form for either pre-approval or for subsequent
reimbursement to the indivdidual or entity that will be expending or has expended
funds. To obtain reimbursement for
expenditures, this form, signed by the account manager, should be turned in to the
LWAF treasurer. See our financial management document for more information.
- Commitment Charge
This form enables an account manager to record expenses that have been incurred
but not yet paid. Thus reports showing actual expense versus budgeted expenses
are more accurate. Once a commitment has been paid, this form must be used to
delete the committed charges (because actual charges have been entered into the
account).
- Account Adjustment Request
This form allows an account manager to request a transfer of charges from one
account to another. This form must be approved by the treasurer and the
other account manager if a second account manager is impacted.
- Budget Approval Form
This form is used to provide initial budget authorization to Account Managers.
It must also
be used when there is a budget change. A copy go to the Account Manager and
to the Budget and Finance Chairperson. A copy is also posted on the web.
In addition to the above documentation. Other documents and memos are
periodically created that
provide finance-related information. This
information is currently available via a
directory on our web site.
File names in this directory are designed to identify document content.
In the case of our monthly finance reports, file names have a prefix to identify the
month and year of the
report. Each month, five key reports are presented to the Board for review. They are:
- yyyy_mm_transactions_by_account
This report is the one that shows the data that drives all other reports.
It shows income and expense transactions by account for the month.
Account managers are asked to review this report and submit changes to the
B&F committee chairman
if there any anomolies. Once the anomolies are resolved, the other monthly reports
are generated. This report is in a
special directory that requires a password.
- yyyy_mm_treasurers_report
This report, produced by the treasurer, shows cash-on-hand at the time of the Board meeting.
It aslo shows a summary of budget performance for the previous month and budget performance year-to-date.
- yyyy_mm_month_end_balance
This report shows the month_ending balances in our checking, savings, and
CD accounts. Data is shown for the current month and all prior months of the year.
- yyyy_mm_MV_grant_accounting
The City annually
grants us money for both general and specific expenses. We first pay
grant-allowable expenses, from
our Arboretum bank account and then submit a bill to the City and they reimburse us.
Because we get such a large portion of our income from the City of Maple Valley,
we have
a separate report that shows the status of City of Maple Valley grant money. It shows
how much was granted, how much has been spent, how much has been
billed back to the City, and how much has been reimbursed to us.
- yyyy_mm_budget_performance
For each account, this report shows current month actuals, year_to_date actuals
and annual budget. It is the report that the B&F committee uses to analyze
our income and expense plan versus actual and report potential problems to the
Board.
Other Administrative Documents
The
LWAF bylaws
provide overall
guidance to the board, define standing committees, and define the responsibilities of
board officers. In addition to a web-based view of the bylaws, you can get a copy of our
bylaws in
Word
or in
PDF
format. A list other
LWAF administrative documents
is also available.
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