Chapter Finances

As a  nonprofit organization, the Austin SMPS Chapter’s goal is to invest our proceeds in the best educational programs and networking events that benefit the A/E/C industry Marketers and Business Development professionals. 

In order to achieve these goals the chapter board constantly considers the very delicate balance of our chapter’s income and expenses when making decisions.  It has always been our intent to break even on an annual basis and so our finance committee has been executing several procedures during the last several years to accommodate the chapter’s growing membership.

The Economy’s Effect
As with most businesses in our industry the slowed economic climate has affected our chapter.  We experienced less event turnout, less member renewals and a decline in new members.  Luckily our past fiscal efforts positioned our organization to grow in the current economic climate.  With funds that were collected in previous years we were able to maintain our current member benefits and still invest in growing our chapter.  As the economy became sluggish we analyzed our budget and created goals for each committee. 

• Analyzed breakeven point for all luncheons
• Created a sponsorship sales budget
• Analyzed committee expenses
• Analyzed cash flow and discussed improvements

1. Cvent Announcement and Credit Card Processing System
2. Migration to QuickBooks On Line
3. National Speaker for Austin Chapter Workshop
4. Created a library of books and CD’s for SMPS members to utilize

Policies and Procedures
As our chapter grows and we begin to add more programs for our members we know that our finances will become more complex and the importance of the finance committee will deepen.  As a foundation to our growth the committee and board have created Financial Policies and Procedures to support and maintain a system of checks and balances and future success.  These accounting procedures primarily included a policy of internal controls with a separation of duties to ensure financial viability.  This policy creates a system that:

• Promotes efficiency
• Provides Management with reasonable assurance that financial reports and procedures are authorized, valid, complete and accurate
• Safeguards against miss appropriation, errors and irregularities

Our accounting procedures include:

1. Incorporated two committee members to help with separate accounting functions
2. Incorporated President to Balance Accounts every month
3. Incorporated Vice President to audit books every year
4. Incorporated professional review of books from an accredited accountant
5. Requiring upfront payment for all events in order to reduce outstanding invoices and creating an easier registration process.

With all of these goals we have maintained a balanced set of financials which has allowed us to reach our goals and distribute proceeds to our Chapter.