TRC Accounting Rules

This is a draft statement of the rules and requirements for the TRC Treasurer budgeting process and monthly accounting.

Budgeting

With the Bylaws amendment from 2006, the requirement was added that TRC go through an annual budgeting procedure. The most effective way to implement this is to subdivide revenues and expenditures into various categories, figure out what the revenues and expenditures will look like month-to-month based on reasonable assumptions, and then keep track of actual revenues and expenditures and report them to the Board on a monthly basis. Note that it is important to keep track of whether revenues come from members or non-members to comply with the 501(c)(7) requirements on how much revenue may come from non-members.

Revenue Streams

The basic revenue streams are:

Memberships

The membership fee charged to each member

Member entries

Members who run a rallye

Non-member Entries

Non-members running a rallye

Expense Streams

As always, there are many more expense streams than revenue streams. It feels like that at home, too, doesn't it?

Awards

TRC gives out awards at each rallye, this is where they're accounted.

Donation

TRC will, from time to time, make donations to various charities. Examples include the Toy Rallye if someone gives us a cash entry instead of a toy or makes an additional donation, or occasionally the Board decided to donate some or all the proceeds from a rallye to a charity.

Equipment

Upkeep of the marker tools, whiteboard and markers, timed checkpoint kits, and other such equipment.

Fees

PayPal charges a fee for accepting payments over their service. Any other fees relating to revenue should go here as well.

Insurance

Our single-largest expense item. Each event must have at some amount of general liability, determined by the board.

Legal

Legal filing fees, almost always paid to the CA Secretary of State for the various biennial statements. Should the need arise for TRC to retain counsel, this would be the place to expense it.

Mailing

Printing for mailings to members or prospective rallyists goes here, rather than under Printing.

Envelopes shall be reimbursed at $.07 per 5 envelopes (or fraction thereof).

Mileage (formerly Gasoline)

TRC will reimburse (from the rallye start or end of traverse, not from home) for expenses incurred while creating a rallye.

Misc

Everyone's got a misc budget line. This is for strange expenses (for example, replacing a worker's clothing that was damaged at a CP by a required item).

Office

Mailing labels, card stock for CMs, pens, staples, duct tape, etc.

Par Plaques

Expenses related to the creation of the participation plaques. Usually the magnets and other special supplies. Printing for the par plaques should probably go here, rather than "printing".

Postage

Self-explanatory.

Printing

Because a large chunk of TRC expenditures are on printing, this is a separate item from office. This includes flyer and rallye printing (registration packets, course markers, CP slips, critiques), but printing for hard copy mailings is under Mailing above.

The printing reimbursement rate covers paper and toner for a high-end desktop printer. Higher-volume devices will be less per page, lower-end more. Get prior approval for any special printing needs (e.g., color) to be reimbursed at a higher rate.

Promotional

TRC does various giveaways throughout the year, including the membership rallye items, anniversary items, and the like.

Business cards or other giveaways to prospective members should also be in this account.

Refund

Officers may refund an entry fee to an entrant that wants their money back for whatever reason, but this is not currently an explicit account, as it occurs less than once a year.

Revenue Sharing

The TRC Board may agree to share revenues with rallyemasters for their events. This needs to be arranged well in advance and an explicit agreement about whether income or net after expenses will be split. This is also rare, and is also no longer an explicit account.

Web Site

This pays for renewing our domains (therallyeclub.org and therallyclub.org). If Steve Watt were not donating his web server to the club, server expenses would also be here.

Worker Food

Rallyemasters may ask to be reimbursed for food and nonalcoholic drink at the finish, start, or checkpoint(s), for themselves or other rallye workers. This is currently limited to $1 per car total, with receipt(s).

Other Reimbursement

This is a catchall for rallye giveaways (pens, water bottles, trinkets, snacks), limited to $.50 per car unless approved in advance. We need to be prepared for more cars than we actually expect.

Coupons

We track coupons redeemable for a free rallye, but don't literally consider them an expense. Rallye expenses (insurance, printing, awards) are not significantly increased by coupons, so the foregone income is deemed acceptable for the coupons' goals (promotion, appreciation to rallye masters, fairness to members renewing when they are not rallying or are rallying with another member).

Monthly Reporting

In addition to an update on the budget and how the club is tracking to the forecast, the monthly report includes:

• A summary of cash on hand, including the checking account, PayPal account, and cash in the start box, at both the start and end of the reporting period.
• A summary of revenues during the reporting period, broken down by source
• A summary of expenses during the reporting period, broken down by payee
• A listing of expected or outstanding upcoming expenses (for example, a rallyemaster who's not claimed expenses yet, or that the annual insurance renewal is coming next month)

Reimbursement Policies

Gas reimbursement

TRC currently will use the rate of $0.30 per mile.

Each RM would be allowed no more than 10 times through their route.

Precheckers would each be allowed 2 times through the route.

The distance allowed will be the actual route only (not from home nor Larry's).

Send the treasurer E-mail with your claim.

Equipment (e.g., tape and staples) if TRC's supplies are inadequate.

Rallye giveaways

Often, a rallye will give away a snack or keepsake consistent with the rallye theme.

(Sometimes these hold or relate to a gimmick, sometimes they do not:-)

For example, Cracker Jack and peanuts have been given for baseball themed rallyes.

These need board approval well in advance if they will exceed $20.

(Remember that we normally plan for 40 cars, though we do not normally get that many.

You may choose a giveaway whose extras you are willing to pay for and use yourself.

Otherwise, $20 is only $.50 for each car. If you get more than 40 cars, ask experts

and Master Experts if they got what they needed from the giveaways and can "hand them

down" to others at the start.)

Food reimbursement (again)

As of 2010, TRC again reimburses food and nonalcoholic drink for RM(s)

and rallye workers, up to the limit of $1 per competing car.

Reimbursement logistics

Provide receipts (photocopy or scan is acceptable) to the treasurer,

with the name and amount to be reimbursed written legibly on it.

(The reimbursement amount can differ from the receipt total if other, personal, items are also on the receipt.)

If the information is communicated to the treasurerby the Friday before the business meeting,

a check can be delivered at the business meeting and exchanged for the receipt(s).

If the treasurer gets it a week before a rallye, a check can be available at that rallye.

Reimbursement should occur within two months and within the same year.

Insurance

We pay insurance both per event (generally, monthly) and annually.

• We currently pay $154 per rallye event to K & K Insurance.
• Each July, we pay an annual to ESCA an insurance fee per active member. ESCA pays K&K our annual fee for July 24 to July 24.
  • Nick Stefanisko knows how to get the number of current members from the member/attendee database. Active members include paid members and associates, but excludes honorary members who do not run rallyes.
  • Compare this number to the number of memberships sold (and use the larger number if they mismatch).

History

• Prior to August, 2011, per-event fee was $167.
• Annual fees:
  • Rate
    • In 2011, the annual insurance fee was greatly reduced to $4.40
    • For 2008 through 2010, the annual insurance fee was $9.47 per active member.
  • Member Counts
    • In 2011, we had 50 members.
    • In 2009 and again in 2010, we had 51-2+12=61 members. We raised our membership dues in 2009 to discourage membership by people who aren't going to attend regularly, since we pay insurance equal to a large fraction of the membership dues we take in.
    • In 2008, we had 65 current members (at the fee-paying time).