[HCoop-Discuss] Getting rid of our balance discrepancy

[aaditya sood]

Count me in for covering $100.

--
/A

On 09-Mar-09, at 7:42 PM, Adam Chlipala wrote:

> In September, I first wrote to this list to ask for donations to  
> cover a
> discrepancy between our bank account balance and the amount of money
> that our bookkeeping says we should have on hand.  The executive  
> summary
> is that, over the 7 years of HCoop's existence, my volunteered efforts
> as treasurer have led to some confusing results, and no one has been
> able to figure out the cause.  I asked for members who might be  
> willing
> to donate parts of their balances towards covering the $1820.50
> discrepancy.  Today, I recalculated the relevant figures, and the
> deficit has shrunk to $1149.19.  I'm not sure why; I hope we can just
> reduce this number to zero, and then henceforth someone will check the
> numbers each month to make sure things don't go awry again.
>
> I'm going to summarize the current situation and then include a copy  
> of
> my original message on this subject.
>
> HCOOP BALANCES:
> Wells Fargo: $7306.22
> PayPal: $50.00
> Checkout (payments not yet transferred to our bank account): $58.20
> SUM: $7414.42
>
> PORTAL SAYS WE HAVE:
> Co-op balance: $98.29
> Active member balances: $8465.32
> SUM: $8563.61
>
> DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE AMOUNTS:
> Deficit: $1149.19
> Negative balances of members who left without paying up: $314.31
> Remaining (mystery amount!): $834.88
> Number of pledges: 15 (out of 132 members)
> Median: $25
> Mean: $37.11
> Min: $10
> Max: $100
> Total: $556.60
> Adding sale of PowerEdge server: $591.60
>
> Remaining deficit: $834.88
>
> I'm going to end up paying the remaining deficit myself, so, as things
> stand, that's $834.88 paid by me and $100 paid by the next-highest
> contributor.  I have my records of pledges that members have already
> made, in response to earlier messages.  If you would like to make a  
> new
> pledge, or to modify your old pledge (none of which have been debited
> yet), please e-mail me (adamc at hcoop.net) with your HCoop username and
> desired donation amount.
>
> I'm thinking I'll wrap this up by charging all donations 2 weeks from
> today.  It would only take a donation of $8.27 per member to close  
> this
> deficit, but I don't expect to get anywhere near that many
> participants.  Realistically, we'd probably need at least a few more
> donations in the $100 range to leave it so I'm not paying at least  
> $100
> more than the next highest contributor.
>
>
> Here's a copy of the message I sent in September:
>
> HCoop has been around for a while, and our current financial records
> trail back to before we were even an official legal entity.  Somewhere
> along the line between then and now, our records on the HCoop portal
> have gotten out of sync with the balance of our bank account.  The
> difference between the two stands at $1820.50 now, when we consider
> negative balances of members who left while still owing money,  
> before we
> instituted our current policy of freezing member accounts shortly  
> before
> they reach the point where this could happen.
>
> It seems prudent to get the two figures in line before proceeding much
> further.  We don't really have any methods available to us for finding
> the root reasons for the discrepancy, though, so I'm proposing that we
> find some subset of members who will voluntarily pledge extra amounts
> out of their balances to cover the difference.
>
> Please remember that HCoop has never yet had a single paid staff  
> member
> performing any service, including managing our financial records.   
> I've
> done this particular task without pay since 2002, and I'm kind of  
> proud
> that the discrepancy isn't even worse, for 6 years of  
> operation. ;-)  I
> can't think of any way in which a suspicious member could construe the
> situation as a crafty attempt by me to turn a personal profit, but let
> me know if you have an objection along those lines, and I can try to
> explain why there's nothing to worry about.
>
> It's worth stating explicitly that our bookkeeping system has recently
> changed significantly, based on discussion on the hcoop-sysadmin list,
> so there is good reason to expect that, once we get things squared  
> away
> now, we'll be in good shape from there on.
>
> So, again, I am asking members for donations that will together cover
> the $1820.50.  Donations are purely voluntary.  People who make
> donations now will receive no preferential treatment or other benefits
> later, and no one is expected to donate.  There is no need to worry
> about not getting enough donations to cover the deficit, because I can
> make up the difference from my personal balance.  (Though it's kind of
> sad if I end up providing both my time and my money, to make up for
> other members' unwillingness to participate in keeping our finances in
> order over the years.)
>
> As I write this message, we have 132 HCoop members.  That means that
> $13.80 from each member would cover the deficit.  Anyone considering
> donating should assume that nowhere near a majority of members will
> donate, so that the even contribution required to cover everything  
> will
> be higher in reality.
>
> If you are up for donating, please e-mail me (adamc at hcoop.net <https://lists.hcoop.net/listinfo/hcoop-discuss 
> >) a short
> note giving your HCoop username and the amount you want to donate,  
> to be
> deducted from your HCoop balance.  Thanks in advance to everyone who
> does this!
>
> Below I've included a copy of a summary of the financial situation  
> that
> I sent to the hcoop-sysadmin list on September 6th.
>
> BALANCES:
> Wells Fargo: 8067.20
> PayPal: 37.98
> Checkout (payments not yet transferred to our bank account): 38.60
> SUM: 8143.78
>
> PORTAL SAYS WE HAVE:
> Co-op balance: 911.06
> Active member balances: 9053.22
> SUM: 9964.28
>
> DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE AMOUNTS:
> Deficit: 1820.50
> Negative balances of members who left without paying up: 314.31
>
> Remaining: 1506.19
>
>
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