Gentoo Treasurer's report, FY2016

prepared by Robin H. Johnson , 2016/08/21

Summary:

Our past treasurer retired early in FY2016, and this left a large void in the organization. I was previously appointed to the role of Infra officer, specifically because the Infrastructure team represents the great majority of cash outflow in the organization. In this regard, I represented a good candidate for the new treasurer, but it has been somewhat problematic that I am not a US citizen or US resident.

All of our accounting records, tax records and bank access were poorly maintained by prior treasurers. In some cases this went back to the first treasurer: minimal hand-off of any records, or no formal records process at all. The trademark records were the only exception to this.

We have acquired a new part-time (retired) CPA, as we have no records or contact with the prior CPA, and he is also being stymied by the lack of prior record-keeping.

TODO: issue thank you to those that helped with the accounting work (can't recall names right now)


Trademarks

Our two trademarks (the Gentoo 'g' logo, and the 'Gentoo' name) were up for renewal this year (9 year cycle), and this was completed in good time. The online process for trademark renewal has been significantly improved since the last time any action was required, and we did not require outside legal aid to complete it this time.

The trademark records were provided from Matthew Summers, as he was given then as a bankers box & CD of documents from our prior legal services. This represents the best-kept records of the Foundation. The content of the CD should be archived online, in case the material degrades, as it may be needed for future renewals and filings.


Taxes

Still in progress is tracking down any prior IRS filings, as they are needed for further tax filings. Our tax filing for the FY2015 period is overdue (we have passed the full 9 months of extensions at this point), and the filing for the FY2016 is due in a few months. We should be prepared to suffer financial penalties for any missing filings.

We need to try harder to identify any prior IRS filings, and get new filings in place.

After a few of the remaining issues with financial records are completed, we will have enough information to file the missing tax information.


Banks & Paypal

We have two bank accounts: CapitalOne360 for saving, CapitalOne MoneyMarket for Chequeing. We have working online access to the CapitalOne360 account to see statements & data, but no way to deposit or withdraw money. We have no online access to the MoneyMarket account (it reports account locked for security), and no more valid signatories that are also trustees. We can add & withdraw money via Paypal, but need to keep our own estimates of the bank balance.

We in a bureaucratic sink-hole trying to get the bank to switch formal account ownership over, because they expect all people with access to be US citizens residing in the USA. This problem will hopefully be alleviated by the addition of new trustees that live in the same city as a CapitalOne branch, as they can visit in person and try to cut the gordian knot.

We went through the full ownership switchover process with Paypal, who were much more receptive to foreign access than the US banks, but the process still took approximately 4 months, during which time we had temporarily limited Paypal access, but this did not impact any business activity.

As a positive outcome of the Paypal switchover and verification, we now have a debit card that withdraws directly from the Paypal account, which can be used online where Paypal is not accepted. Due to aforementioned US limitations, the debit card must be held in the name of a US resident.


Accounting

Taking over as treasurer made it clear that there were no readily accessible financial records or books assembled & passed on by ANY prior treasurer. A huge effort was undertaken to re-construct all of our books, which is mostly completed.

As part of this process, we will need to publish entirely new financial statements, and catch where the prior errors were. The errors are mostly in the forms of missed transactions, or uncleared transactions (Paypal used to take up to 90 days to clear a transaction, and this had some transactions reported in the wrong financial year

A very positive outcome of this was the discovery of significant missing revenue, from our CafePress commissions. This helped to offset the lack of GSOC income for the FY2016 period.

Accounting: NetBank

Records from the NetBank (2005-2008) era is likely to remain missing, but represents at most $1,178.41 with poor accounting traces.

5 bugs represent this amount to within a few cents ($1178.46), but there may be other direct-to-bank donations that mask other expenses. Bugs: 109597, 126564, 136467, 170459, 170461.


Provisional Statements

There remains major work to be done with the financial records, including, but not limited to

Gentoo Foundation Inc.
Provisional Statement of Financial Position
2016/06/30, FY2016 closing


Assets:
-------
Cash and cash equiv.     $117,589.36
Hardware                 $ 10,029.00
                         ===========
TOTAL                    $129,203.72

Liabilities and Net Assets:
---------------------------
Liabilities              $      0.00
Unrestricted Net Assets  $129,203.72
                         ===========
TOTAL                    $129,203.72

Gentoo Foundation Inc.
Provisional Statement of Activities
2016/06/30, FY2016 closing

Revenues:
---------
                        Native        Converted [#2]
Commission [#1]         $  17,630.03  
Donations             EUR      10.00  $     14.51
Donations               $  12,436.03
Interest                $     397.82
                         ===========
TOTAL                 EUR      10.00
TOTAL                   $  30,463.88  $ 30,478.39

Expenses:
---------               Native        Converted [#2]
Legal                   $    800.00
Paypal Fees             $    532.86
Paypal Fees           EUR      6.23   $     9.04
GSOC reimbursements     $    650.32
Hosting               EUR  1,109.28   $ 1,418.19
Events                EUR    311.41   $   370.37
                         ===========
TOTAL                 EUR  1,426.92
TOTAL                   $  1,983.18   $ 3,780.78


Change in net assets:
---------------------
All values converted to USD.
Revenues:               $ 30,478.39
LESS
Expenses:               $  3,780.78
                      =============
TOTAL                   $ 26,697.61

Notes:
1. It was discovery by CafePress that a large number of prior commission cheques
had NEVER been deposited by treasurers. They were very generous and paid us the
amounts of the outstanding cheques via Paypal. This may have a tax implication
due to the large sum.

2. The conversion amounts are approximate, due to currency variations and the
aforementioned issue.

Gentoo Foundation Inc.
Provisional Statement of Functional Expenses
2016/06/30, FY2016 closing

To be completed; This is a breakdown of expenses by both nature & function (Foundation, PR, Infrastructure)


EOF