Where is the annual financial report?

[RiverAux]

Okay, it has almost been 7 months since the end of CAP's last fiscal year and the 2009 financial report has yet to be released?  Whats the deal?   I know you need a little time to get all the paperwork in order and to make it all look pretty, but this is ridiculous. 

[Pylon]

It is not ridiculous.   The last non-profit I worked for had a Jan-Jan fiscal year, and our financial report wasn't usually published until August or September of the following year.   It's not simply a matter of clicking "Export" in Quicken.   What often takes the most time is the external audit.  The financial data is not released until a full audit is completed and the results are reported.  It can take weeks or months for the final audit report alone, notwithstanding the collection, preparation, and analysis of the actual financial data in the first place.  Then give the PR folks a couple of weeks to compile the final data into pretty charts, write narrative and explanations where necessary, design, edit, and get approved the public version of the report.  You can quickly see why it's not as simple as just getting some "paperwork in order".

Don't spout off about things being "ridiculous" when you don't have a frame of reference on whether it's really out of the norm or not.

[RiverAux]

I think we're going to have to agree to disagree on this one. 

[Pylon]

I think we're going to have to agree to disagree on this one.

Do you know how long a full financial audit takes for a multi-million dollar operation with assets/expenses/income in all fifty states and abroad?  Do you know what's involved?

[RADIOMAN015]

I think we're going to have to agree to disagree on this one.

Do you know how long a full financial audit takes for a multi-million dollar operation with assets/expenses/income in all fifty states and abroad?  Do you know what's involved?

Yea large national CPA firms have the capability to hit every sample location, sometimes on the same day and get all that sampling info out of the way quickly and back to the managing partner.  This isn't rock science accounting, it's just sampling!!!!

Not sure how that local Montgomery AL CPA firm that CAP contracts with does the off site far away sampling locations.  It might be possible for them to use some small contract CPA firms in those distant sampling locations, or they could be traveling to those sampling locations.  Of course the way professional accounting works, you are paying them travel/per diem etc to send those junior auditors out to those remote sites.    Seems like 4, maybe 5 months would be enough time after the end of the fiscal year to get it done. 

Surely, the paid professional staff at Nat Hq would have put in a contract requirement that the audit/financial statement opinion be completed by a specific date
RM

[RiverAux]

 

I think we're going to have to agree to disagree on this one.

Do you know how long a full financial audit takes for a multi-million dollar operation with assets/expenses/income in all fifty states and abroad?  Do you know what's involved?

How about this?
Well, if the Red Cross can get their report out in a reasonable period of time, why can't we?

They ended their last fiscal year on June 30, 2009 and the auditor had their report back to them by October 30, 2009.  By my count the gap between fiscal year end and auditors report was 4 months for an organization that is orders of magnitude bigger and more complex than CAP.

[heliodoc]

I agree about the ARC

What's CAP's excuse? 

ARC.......more serious DR missions than CAP and approx 4 months to gey theirs done....

CAP really needs some time management skills...just think with all that energy for NB meetings....you'd think they'd vote on gettin' something done on time!!

[lordmonar]

I love it when the same people who complain that NHQ can't do something simple like produce a coherent uniform regulation are also amazed when they fail to produce a financial report "in a timely manner"!

[Pylon]

I agree about the ARC

What's CAP's excuse?

Did we all forget about the NHQ staffing cuts in the past few years, too?  You can "agree about the ARC" all you want, but the truth is they have more funding for administration, more staffing, and more resources to pull this together.   CAP NHQ barely has enough funding to keep itself afloat, it would seem, at times.

Since our organization produces 99% of its work from volunteers, if you want more work churned out of NHQ in a timely manner, step up to the plate and volunteer your time.  If you want an updated CAPM 39-1, step up to the plate and put one together and send it up the chain, or seek some fellow volunteers to help out.   If you want PSAs to share with your local radio station, someone is going to have to step up to the plate and make them ourselves.  The truth is that we're a volunteer organization, run on what is --for our size-- a shoestring budget, and if things are to really get done fast and well, it'll be the volunteers who will have to do it.

[RRLE]

And FWIW and your least favorite analogy - the just posted and latest and greatest USCG Auxiliar report, which is just a copy of their 990 tax form, is for 2007. So CAP may be late but it isn't That Late. 

[FW]

The financial report usually is presented to the Board of Governors in June (if I remember correctly). The audit process is usually done by the end of March and, their (the auditors) report to CAP is presented in April. It will take a few weeks to respond to any findings and then, publish them.  Things are probably on schedule.

[Pylon]

And as noted above, if you have a burning need to see CAP's financial figures, the IRS Form 990's are available as soon as CAP files their taxes.  You should be able to request a copy from CAP.  They are legally obligated to provide you access to view them, but they may or may not charge you a fee for copying/postage.

[RiverAux]

Ah, but you forget, CAP members do not have any rights to see any CAP information, including financial data. 

[Pylon]

Ah, but you forget, CAP members do not have any rights to see any CAP information, including financial data.

Wrong.  This isn't about CAP regulations.   It's public law.  Any 501(c)(3) corporation must provide a copy of or access to its IRS 990 filings to any member of the public who asks for it.  You can also obtain a copy from the IRS, but they prefer you get it from the charity to save them time/work/money.

[a2capt]

990's can be gotten simply, here too:

http://foundationcenter.org/findfunders/990finder/

Only caveat is they are a few months behind as they are not the IRS.

[Pylon]

Only caveat is they are a few months behind as they are not the IRS.

Actually they appear to be 12+ months behind.

And RiverAux, you can also submit an IRS Form 4506-A requesting a copy of CAP's 990-T's from the IRS itself.  So, CAP's financial data is filed in a timely manner and available to the public on request.

[SarDragon]

Only caveat is they are a few months behind as they are not the IRS.

Actually they appear to be 12+ months behind.

And RiverAux, you can also submit an IRS Form 4506-A requesting a copy of CAP's 990-T's from the IRS itself.  So, CAP's financial data is filed in a timely manner and available to the public on request.

How can they be 12 months behind? 2009 just finished. The year on the return is for the fiscal year, not the year submitted.

[Pylon]

Only caveat is they are a few months behind as they are not the IRS.

Actually they appear to be 12+ months behind.

And RiverAux, you can also submit an IRS Form 4506-A requesting a copy of CAP's 990-T's from the IRS itself.  So, CAP's financial data is filed in a timely manner and available to the public on request.

How can they be 12 months behind? 2009 just finished. The year on the return is for the fiscal year, not the year submitted.

Negative, the newest return they have on that site is the 2007 990's, filed in early 2008.   This year's return would be the 2009 990's, filed in early 2010.  The "year" column on their website is a little deceiving.  Download the actual return to see what year it's truly for.

[RiverAux]

To be frank, I'm not so much interested in the financial part of the financial report, but in what remnants, if any, of the now-discontinued annual report to congress, will be included. 

I'm sure I'll end up using some numbers from the report at some point, but those aren't my main interest. 

[SarDragon]

Negative, the newest return they have on that site is the 2007 990's, filed in early 2008.   This year's return would be the 2009 990's, filed in early 2010.  The "year" column on their website is a little deceiving.  Download the actual return to see what year it's truly for.

OOPS!

Busted. I thought I looked twice on that and still screwed it up.