Guidelines for Financial Management of CPGIS  2020-12-27
Guidelines Editor Financial Committee
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Guidelines for Financial Management of CPGIS

Updated on December 26, 2020

1. The BOD has the ultimate decision and explanation power on financial issues of CPGIS, unless there is a necessity to call for an all-member vote. The BOD examines and approves the annual report submitted by the Financial Committee, the annual report submitted by the Treasurer of the last fiscal year, and the budget proposal submitted by the Treasurer of the new fiscal year. The BOD will make decisions on financial issues that go beyond the power scopes of the President and the General Sectary.

2. The Treasurer is the executive financial officer of CPGIS. The Treasurer reports to the President. The Treasurer shall prepare budget proposal at the beginning of a fiscal year, prepare financial report at the end of a fiscal year, oversee all financial transactions, and maintain financial records.

3. The Headquarters, led by the General Sectary, is responsible for daily accounting tasks, including managing bank accounts, acquiring and preserving financial documents (e.g., receipts), issuing checks, and bookkeeping. The Headquarters is responsible for collecting membership dues and other incomes.

4. In principle, all CPGIS incomes shall go to the CPGIS financial endowment.

5. At the beginning of each fiscal year of CPGIS (November), based on the recommendation of the Financial Committee, the BOD will decide the amount to be released from the principal of the endowment (hereafter “allowable amount”) for the expenses of CPGIS in that fiscal year.

6. The President’s Office shall create the annual budget plan according to the allowable amount approved by the BOD.

7. The funds for CPGIS’ daily expenses are organized into three components: the General Fund, the Special Fund, and the President Fund.

8. The General Fund is the primary fund for daily expenses.

9. A donor may designate her/his donation to be used for a special purpose, e.g., a special event or activity of CPGIS. A Special Fund shall be established for honoring such requests and for hosting such donations. The expenditure budget of a Special Fund, however, is still subjected to the approval of the BOD. Whenever necessary, the Financial Committee and the Headquarters, coordinated by the Treasurer, shall work together on managing a Special Fund.

10. The President Fund is a fund that the President can use under her/his own discretion. The fund covers the cost of unbudgeted minor expenses. The source of this fund is the General Fund of CPGIS. While this fund does not have an upper limitation, it is restricted to being smaller or equal to $500 per transaction. The President shall make the best effort to report all expenses charged to this fund to the BOD beforehand. It is required that the President reports to the BOD about all expenses charged to this fund in the BOD regular meetings. The BOD reserves the right to veto the expenses charged to this fund.

11. At the beginning of a fiscal year, the Secretary General shall submit to the Treasurer a budget proposal for the regular expenses at the Headquarter, including the expenses of personnel, website and database maintenance, office supplies, postage, and incidental costs. In the proposal, changes from the last year shall be highlighted and justified. The Treasurer shall include this proposal into the general budget proposal and submit it to the BOD for approval.

12. Members shall pay their dues through the CPGIS website, or to their regional coordinators. The regional coordinators are required to forward the collected dues to the Headquarters in a timely fashion.

13. A committee seeking financial support from CPGIS shall submit a proposal to the Treasurer at the beginning of each fiscal year. The proposal shall include purpose, amount of fund applied for, and justification of the amount. The President, Chair of the BOD, Treasurer, Secretary General, and Chair of the Financial Committee will form a Budget Committee to give all the proposals an initial review. The Treasurer will put the proposals that have passed the review into the yearly budget proposal according to the allowable amount. If the proposed budget exceeds the allowable amount in that fiscal year, the Treasurer may submit a request for readjustment of allowable amount with justification, along with the budget proposal, to the BOD for review and approval.

14. In principle, BOD is unwilling to prove an unbudgeted financial item, unless it is critical and urgent to CPGIS. A request for an unbudgeted expense shall go through a formal procedure as follows:

i. The requestor submits a proposal to the Treasurer;

ii. The Treasurer will give the proposal an initial review and if she/he finds it valid, she/he will forward it to the President;

iii. If the President is willing to and is able to provide the support with the President Fund, the support will be granted by the President;

iv. If the President is willing to support but cannot grant it with the President Fund, the Treasurer will submit the proposal to the BOD. The BOD will decide if the support will be granted.

v. If the President is not willing to support the proposal, the Treasurer will notify the requestor about the President’s declination, and requestor may appeal to the BOD, through the Treasurer, for the BOD’s final decision.