Finance

1. Finance global meeting August 2001

2. Objectives • Summary of record keeping and reporting issues • Exchange ideas, experiences, during this week and follow-up after the meeting • Hard copies of the slides and templates of financial statements are available global meeting August 2001

3. Bookeeping and account statements • Daily records to keep track of cash inflows and outflows, keep all invoices, receipts, bills and supporting paperwork, record every item and reconcile at least once every quarter • Monthly reporting of 25% of local contributions to Headquarters • Quarterly and annual preparation of financial statements (standard General Ledger statements) for communication to members, budgeting, analysis global meeting August 2001

4. Bookeeping – cont. • Cash basis (not accrual) • Keep it simple and easy to manage • Compare budgeted amounts with actual amounts • Required – Revenue and Expense or Income Statement (also known asProfit/Loss Statement, Comte de résultat, Estado de Ingresos, Gewinn und Verlustrechnung) global meeting August 2001

5. Bookeeping – cont. • Cash Flow Statement is more or less the same as the Income Statement, (also known as Ressourses et emplois des fonds, Estado de Flujos de Caja, Kapitalflussrechnung Bewegungsbilanz) • Balance Sheet is optional (annual only, also known as Bilan, Balance Général, Balance Contable, Bilanz) global meeting August 2001

6. Procedure for charging items to the HQ account • Staff Union circular (July 1999) • The « H » account is for HQ use» • An EPA (external payment authorization, « I » account) approved by the SUC Chair and/or Treasurer global meeting August 2001

7. Affiliation functions • HQ GS/P staff – send the entire form to the HQ Secretariat • Local (GS field) staff – keep Part B and send it to the local finance officer (for payroll deduction) • Inform the HQ Secretariat whether it is a new member or reaffiliation of a former member • Members should always enroll via their local union represenative (forms available on the web-site) global meeting August 2001

8. Resignation functions • Membership automatically stops with a break in contract or at end of contract (continues during leave without pay) • Local union representative keeps an updated membership list • Inform the HQ Secretariat of any departures global meeting August 2001

9. Other considerations • While one person in each office is responsible for the Treasurer function, it is desirable to train one or two other people who may serve as back-up or trainees. Consider having two signatures on all payments (one to handle money and one to record transactions/reconcile accounts). Bank account transactions should have two signatures. global meeting August 2001

10. Considerations – cont. • The local office, region, or entire Union (represenatives and committee and/or all members) may wish to make develop general guidelines about what funds should be used for, travel reimbursement, how money should be invested, or any other issues.Guidelines could be up-dated periodically. global meeting August 2001

11. Considerations – cont. • When relevant, use existing ILO Financial Guidelines/Circulars (exception is travel) and seek theadvice of the local and/or regional finance officer, and/or HQ.The ILO Financial Services Department processes Union transactions for free. • If local banks are not reliable, use the same banks that the ILO or UN uses. global meeting August 2001

12. Considerations – cont. • According to the SU Rules, in HQ an Auditing Commission provides an independent check of the accounts and book-keeping that is in place. The Annual General Meeting nominates three auditors (staff union members with some finance experience) to audit HQ Union accounts for one year. Due to the size and small transaction volume of some offices, this might not be practical. The individual office may wish to consider whether it wishes to nominate another union member and/or finance officer to serve as auditor. (Transactions processed by the ILO Financial Services are audited by the ILO’s auditors.) global meeting August 2001

13. Chapter IV, Article 21(a) (iii): • « A substantial proportion of the dues paid by the Staff Union members at duty stations outside headquarters shall be reserved for use to permit more direct participation of the members employed in the field in the activities of the Union as well as of the local Staff Union unit to cover set aside of more direct participation of field staff in union activities as well as union-related expenses at the duty station, which shall be duly accounted for by the Treasurer of the Staff Union Committee; » (French ..qui devront être justfiées au trésorier du Comité) • For decision: The Treasury function for local contributions is decentralized, but we need to either follow this Rule, or amend the Staff Union Rules accordingly. global meeting August 2001

14. Next steps/follow-up • Continue discussion and exchange of ideas within region and across regions – this week and after the meeting • Decison on Article 21(iii) • Consider developing guidelines: • investment policies • use of union funds/what purpose or activities • auditing and control procedures global meeting August 2001