GREENBELT INTERNET ACCESS COOPERATIVE
1998 AUDIT COMMITTEE REPORT
Part 3 - April 10, 2000
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SUMMARY REPORT
Basis of the Work
Part 2 of the 1998 Audit Committee Report, issued previously, detailed a number
of outstanding money, service and policy issues remaining to be acted upon by
the Committee. These tasks were in progress when, at a Special Membership/
Board Meeting on August 10, 1999, an arrangement was established whereby
specific duties of the GIAC Secretary, Treasurer and System Administrator roles
were outsourced to CENTER Enterprises for a monthly fee. Inasmuch as the
remaining audit tasks were not among those outsourced, they were left in the
hands of GIAC Officers.
In general, except as prompted by an occasional individual Member inquiry, no
further action was taken on the outstanding 1998 audit issues until after the
formation of the 1999 Audit Committee. At that time, issues relating directly
to the 1999 audit were conveyed to the energetic new Committee, while other
bookkeeping and pre-1999 audit issues were tackled and disposed of by the newly-
invigorated 1998 Committee of One.
Major Accomplishments
- Most errors and issues detailed in Part 2 of the 1998 Audit Committee
Report were resolved. The remaining few were forwarded to the 1999
Committee.
- To achieve Y2K compliance while in the possession of CENTER Enterprises,
all GIAC financial records were upgraded from Quicken 3.0 for DOS to
Quicken 6.0 for Windows.
- A major cleanup and consolidation of 1996-2000 permanent GIAC files was
accomplished.
DETAIL REPORT
With reference to Part 2 of the 1998 Audit Committee Report:
Money Corrections
- To verify the current balances of all active Member Journals, all items
listed were reconciled with Members via e-mail.
Other Money Issues
- All listed cases of Member reimbursements and refunds due were paid.
- Two cases of excessive refunds and all listed cases of potential refunds to
inactive accounts were referred to the 1999 Audit Committee.
Service Issues
- Members involved in recent cases (accounts #####, #####, #####, #####) were
contacted to explain and offer apologies for GIAC error-based
misunderstandings. Account ##### could not be reached (at the time). All
other cases listed were judged to be too old for redemption.
Policy Issues
- The policy issues listed have not yet been proposed or resolved.
With regard to the consolidation of GIAC financial records:
Computer Files
- To minimize the need for reference to previous accounting files and
reports, all 1996-1997 Checkbook Register transactions and all 1996-1999
non-service related Member Journal transactions (e.g., Member donations,
expense reimbursements, and polo shirt purchases) were also transcribed
into the Quicken files and audited for detail accuracy.
- To minimize the need for reference to individual ISP work order files, a
1998-2000 work order summary (chronology) was constructed (to be maintained
by the System Administrator).
- To facilitate future accounting tasks, new Chart of Accounts codes provided
by the 1999 Committee were entered into all 1996-2000 Checkbook Register
and certain 1996-2000 Member Journal transactions.
Paper Files
- Missing backup documents for all 1996-1999 bank deposits and ISP payment
calculations were reconstructed, audited for detail accuracy, and added to
permanent GIAC files. (On the other hand, two full storage boxes of
miscellaneous and useless paper files inherited from the previous Treasurer
were discarded.)
- Summary of audited 1998 ISP payment calculations:
PAID OWED DIFF
JAN 12/30/97 550.00 550.00
FEB 02/03/98 475.00 475.00
MAR 03/02/98 494.00 508.50 -14.50
APR 04/06/98 589.50 577.50 +12.00
MAY 05/04/98 518.00 546.50 -28.50
JUN 06/05/98 603.00 625.00 -22.00
JUL 07/02/98 596.50 617.00 -20.50
AUG 08/06/98 624.50 615.50 + 9.00
SEP 09/04/98 581.00 581.00
OCT 10/09/98 647.50 638.00 + 9.50
NOV 11/13/98 620.00 650.50 -30.50
DEC 12/09/98 617.50 624.50 - 7.00
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-92.50 underpaid
- Other anomalies noted during cleanup of paper files:
- In 1997, account ##### purchased two polo shirts directly from the
distributor; however, the transaction was not reported in any way in GIAC
books, thereby depriving GIAC of the intended profit on shirt sales. The
situation was corrected by entering an adjustment in the account journal
and notifying the Member.
- In 1998, GIAC should have paid $25.00, not $50.00, to rent a Labor Day
Festival Information Day table.
CONCLUSION
After all 1996-1999 audit and bookkeeping tasks were completed, the outsourcing
arrangement was unilaterally terminated by CENTER Enterprises and all GIAC
computer and paper financial files were returned to the Treasurer.
Respectfully submitted,
Neil McLeod
1998 Ad Hoc Audit Committee
April 10, 2000
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