[Osmf-talk] Conference organizer travel

[Simon Poole]

Hi Greg

That is actually an excellent suggestion. Note that we do have a
professional accountant on contract, so as long as we are not talking
about a large number of transactions this shouldn't be a large issue.

Simon

Am 17.10.2014 12:30, schrieb Gregory:
> In other organisations I have claimed expenses and as a separate
> transaction made a donation equal to the expenses. I prefer this method
> as someone taking my position in future may not have the means to cover
> the same costs but at least the costs are record and so the organisation
> should have planned for them in budgeting (the fact that it was covered
> by a donation is formally unknown and fundraising is a different budget
> matter).
> 
> However with OSMF, I can see that the board claiming their travel
> expenses just for paperwork-sake would add a relatively significant
> amount of admin work because the OSMF is still a small organisation with
> no paid staff or even full-time volunteers. I have also been happy with
> the board elections and so trust the current board would be managing
> finances appropriately.
> 
> Happy Mapping,
> Greg
> 
> On 16 October 2014 17:38, Simon Poole <simon at poole.ch
> <mailto:simon at poole.ch>> wrote:
> 
>     Hi Paul
> 
>     Both the expense account and the SOTM costs are opaque to the board
>     members not directly involved in finances and SOTM organisation so there
>     is no quick way to check.
> 
>     As a result it would be speculation to even assume that there are SOTM
>     related travel expenses at all.
> 
>     Please note that I realize this is not an ideal situation from a
>     transparency point of view, it is simply the current board continuing
>     with the policies of the previous ones.
> 
>     I do however want to point out that the question of expenses is not
>     simply black and white. As far as I know most of the board members do
>     not claim expenses for their OSMF related activities, leading to the
>     situation that more transparency would lead to singling individuals out
>     which is something, at least I, would prefer not to do.
> 
>     Fixing this would essentially require us to all claim expenses which
>     would clearly stress our budget more than it already is. I could argue
>     that this is perhaps the done thing anyway, since the current situation
>     hides (at least relative to our current budget) significant costs in the
>     pockets of the individual board members.
> 
>     Simon
> 
> 
>     Am 16.10.2014 17:13, schrieb Paul Norman:
>     > I was looking at the income statement for 2012, and I was wondering if
>     > conference-related travel expenses are accounted under Travel and
>     > Accommodation or under Conference Costs.
>     >
>     > Obviously, there are reasonable expenses associated with travel and
>     > lodging when organizing an international conference, it's just
>     important
>     > to be transparent about what they are. Any travel must be economy
>     class,
>     > but the expense policy
>     > (http://wiki.osmfoundation.org/wiki/Finances#Expenditure) doesn't
>     > mention lodging, which is probably an oversight.
>     >
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