Finance Committee

Goals and Purpose: Manage finances of Young Patronesses of the Opera

Contacts/Mentors: All past Treasurers and Financial Secretaries

Finances/Budget: See yearbook.

Composition of Members:

Treasurer, Financial Secretary, Immediate Past Treasurer,

President, Vice President, Immediate Past President

Size of Committee: 6

Special Skills: Computer skills necessary; accounting ability helpful

Timeline: What Needs to Be Done When:

Take the checkbook, Reimbursement Forms, Credit Card forms, and Cash/Check Receipt Transmittal Forms to all Board and General meetings (and any other official YPO functions where appropriate).

May / Sign new signature cards and other statements for Gibraltar Bank.
Pay monthly bills.
June / Pass out W-9 at first meeting and explain their use. Meet with accountant as soon as May is finished so that you can have Form 990 in time to file. Include JOG’s income and expenses.
Pay monthly bills.
July / Receipt of Financial Report form (see September 1 below).
Pay monthly bills before the first of the month.
August / Pay monthly bills before the first of the month.
September / 1 / Due date for Florida Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services Financial Report form, if submitted.
Pay monthly bills before the first of the month.
October / 15 / Due date for Form 990 to IRS—put together by accountant.
Pay monthly bills before the first of the month.
November / 23 / Deposit accumulated life membership fees into Gibraltar CD account.
Prepare check(s) for the final Girl Scout workshop.
Pay monthly bills before the first of the month.
December / 1 / Apply to IRS for Forms 1099 and 1096
1-800-829-3676 (1-800-TAX-FORM)
You can’t use downloaded forms because the forms are multipart.
Provide accountant with all W-9.
Review and verify the accountants list of potential 1099 recipients
Pay monthly bills before the first of the month.
January / 31 / Send out IRS Forms 1099 and 1096 for all individuals (but not corporations) who have received monetary awards during the calendar year. These would include In School Opera payees, Shooting Star and Educator of Note winners, Valerie Mydske (Opera Funtime), Voice Competition winners. Anyone who received less than $600 doesn’t need a form, nor do people whose businesses are incorporated. All of these people should have filled out W-9 forms (which can be downloaded from the IRS site www.irs.gov).
Pay monthly bills before the first of the month.
31 / FL Department of Agriculture filing due (prepared by accountant) with filing fee (was $125).
February / 1-5 / Pay January salaries for In School Opera cast and crew plus expenses. Julie Todaro will give you each of their W-9 forms. (Julie Todaro sends an invoice to the treasurer at the end of the month – checks need to go out the first week of the following month.)
Pay monthly bills before the first of the month.
March / 1-5 / Pay February salaries for In School Opera cast and crew plus expenses.
17 / Our sales tax exemption was renewed in 2010. Renewals and if we ever need to make a change of address, the form should be sent to:
Central Registration
Florida Department of Revenue
5050 Tallahassee St
Tallahassee, FL 32399-0100
Phone: 850-487-4130
Pay monthly bills before the first of the month.
April / 1-5 / Pay March salaries for In School Opera cast and crew plus expenses.
Make sure you have budget requests from all pertinent committees.
Meet with Finance Committee (President, Vice President, Treasurer, Financial Secretary, Immediate Past President, Immediate Past Treasurer) to set the draft budget for the coming fiscal year—presented at May Board Meeting.
Pay monthly bills before the first of the month.
1-5 / Pay March salaries for In School Opera cast and crew plus expenses.
May / Present the budget for the following year to the board for its approval at the May Board Meeting.
A check will be needed at the May Luncheon for the Educator of Note award. This is reimbursed out of the ITT Hartford fund controlled by Sheri Swanson.
A check will be needed at the May Luncheon for Florida Grand Opera to pay our funding commitment.
Pay monthly bills before the first of the month.
Renew the Kahn-Carlin bond. & Liability insurance
Get signature cards from Gibraltar Bank for new officers.

Procedures:

Financial Secretary:
  1. Deposit checks:
  2. Checks are deposited into Gibraltar Bank. Eva Gordon, who can be reached at work at 305-476-5530, handles our account, #20041551. Her office is located at 220 Alhambra Circle, Fifth Floor, Coral Gables 33134.
  3. To enter check deposits into QuickBook:
  4. Each check is entered by category. Please don’t set up new categories without consulting the Treasurer. Sometimes one check will need to be split into different categories, such as someone’s paying their May Luncheon reservation and dues with one check, or a ball ticket, where you should separate the cost of the meal from the deductible portion.
  5. In QuickBooks, enter date, charge, check number, person or company name on check, and category/class.
  6. The deposit slip is filled out in duplicate. The bank keeps the white copy, and the yellow copy is for the Treasurer. Each check to be deposited must be stamped with our account information.
  7. All checks and cash for deposit must be presented to the Financial secretary with a Cash Receipts Transmittal Form. The committee that received the monies for deposit prepares this form. It should list the person or company the check is from, the check number (some committee chairs also include the bank), the amount, and how it should be allocated (the category). Each form should have a total amount. The totals of all Cash Receipts Transmittal Forms should equal the total of your deposit.
  8. Please photocopy all checks in the deposit. This is particularly important with checks from people who are not members of YPO.
  9. Once you have made a deposit:
  10. In QuickBooks, “make deposit” and print out report.
  11. Date and sign the Cash Receipts Transmittal Forms;
  12. Remove any yellow copies of Cash Receipts Transmittal Forms to return to the committee chair;
  13. Print a report for the deposit for your records and a second copy for the Treasurer;
  14. Send or give the Treasurer the deposit report plus the yellow deposit slip, once it has been processed by the bank;
  15. Staple your copy of the deposit report to the white copies of the Cash Receipts Transmittal Forms and the photocopies of the checks, and file them. This file will become part of the Treasurer’s file at the end of the Financial Secretary’s term.
  16. Track all credit card charges.
  17. Credit card charges are also entered into QuickBooks, which is set up to authorize or reject the charge immediately.
  18. Make sure that you get a copy of all charges made the night of the Ball. This way you will be able keep track of the Silent Auction monies.
  19. Give monthly reports:
  20. You are responsible for accounting for the previous month’s deposits at every board meeting and every general meeting except for the May Luncheon. Most of the time, this will consist of a statement to the effect that the deposits made into our account at Gibraltar in the previous month totaled $XXXX.XX. If you are not attending a meeting, please get in touch with the Treasurer (or, if she is unavailable, the President) ahead of time and give her the information so that it can be presented at the meeting and entered into our minutes.
  21. Give active committees frequent updates on income received.
  22. Tax accounting:
  23. You should prepare a tax receipt for each donor to YPO who gave deductible contributions of more than $250 to the organization in the previous calendar year.
  24. Basically, all donations to YPO are tax-deductible unless you get something in return. Therefore, the May Luncheon fee is not deductible, and Ball tickets are only partially deductible—the cost of the meal and any table favors must be subtracted. Checks to purchase Funtimes are not deductible; gifts to Funtimes are. Various YPO fees—Hostess Requirement, Dues, Opera Subscriptions, Ball Obligations—are donations to the organization, and are deductible. Needless to say, straight donations are deductible!
  25. The Ball chairs will let you know how much of each ticket is not deductible. This should be printed on the invitation. People purchasing a Vignette receive two Benefactor Tickets, and therefore the meal costs for two Benefactors must be deducted from the total to come to the tax deductible value of a Vignette.
  26. Our accountant will need a report of all donations made by YPO officers for the calendar year.
Treasurer:

Treasurer Responsibilities

Pay bills on a timely basis. Committee heads should approve all bills submitted for payment. Don’t pay sales tax for anything over $50. (The reason we pay sales tax on small bills is that it is too much bother, sometimes, to set up an account and get a check from the YPO account for incidental small expenses.)

Chair the Finance Committee.

Prepare a budget for the next fiscal year.

Keep accounts for all activities pursued by YPO.

Give committee chairs a financial report of income/expenses for their committees.

Meet with accountant to prepare federal and state tax filings.

Outline of Report:
I.  Accounts
II.  Items the Treasurer Manages
III.  Treasurer Responsibilities
I. Accounts:
Gibraltar Bank

Checking Account: 20041551

CD Account: 91000246

Project Account: TO COME

All income should be deposited into the main Gibraltar Bank checking account. Life memberships are deposited into the CD account at the time it rolls over. At regular intervals, monies that are being held long-term in reserve for special projects (Cookbook, Voice Competition) should be transferred into the Project Account.

Branch Office: 220 Alhambra Circle, Suite 500, Coral Gables, FL 33134

305-476-1982

Eva U. Gordon, Senior Vice President

305-476-5530 (phone); 305-476-1528 (fax)

Nora Martinez, Administrative Officer

305-476-5534 (phone); 305-476-1528 (fax)

Online Access:

http://www.gibraltarbank.com

Oppenheimer, acct# TO COME

The so-called “contingency” account

Account representative: Jay Spieler, 305-860-2615. Julian Fernandez is the sales assistant.

Hartford Life Variable Annuity, contract Number 124044

This was funded in 1993 by Karen Herterich to pay for the Educator of Note award given at the May Luncheon. Sheri Swanson receives all statements and will forward them to you. To ease bookkeeping, YPO pays all Educator of Note expenses (the cash award, a spa day, luncheon costs for the award recipient and guests, the cost of hiring a substitute teacher for the day of the May Luncheon, a crystal apple and engraved base) and Sheri gets us a reimbursement check.

Junior Opera Guild checking account

JOG is part of YPO, and as such, should report their financial information to us so we can include it in our annual filings. (See note under June on calendar below)

II. Items the Treasurer Manages

Corporate Seal—in Treasurer’s Box

Consumer’s Certificate of Exemption from Florida Department of Revenue

(sales tax exemption)—original copy in file in Treasurer’s Box

Certificate Number 23-08-327116-85C

Effective Date: 3/17/01

Expiration Date: 3/17/06

YPO guidelines are that we don’t pay sales tax for anything above $50. Florida law states that we can only be exempt from paying sales tax on bills we pay ourselves (see certificate). This means that if someone pays a bill expecting reimbursement, that person must pay sales tax. It therefore behooves people to think ahead so that they can get a check from YPO and be exempt from sales tax.

Tax File for Public Inspection—in Treasurer’s Box

Contains:

Letter of Determination from the IRS

Actually two letters, one dated 7/5/85, and a second dated 3/4/88

Form 990—past three years

Forms and Handouts:

Appended:

Cash Receipts Transmittal Form

Charge Form

Receipt for Charitable Contributions to come

Expense Reimbursement Form