Once again, the scope of our financial reporting to the residents has been greatly reduced. Why? Take a good look at the report. We are unable to see any repairs to roads, drainage work, the income from the sale of the old dock, or whether there were expenses related to its removal. Work on roads, drainage, etc. usually requires a request for bids, contracts, payments, vote by the board, etc. Why doesn't our board want us to see whether what they voted to do, came in on budget, and was managed within the yearly budget, whether it is out of operating or reserves? Remember next year's budget has already been called a shell game, from the board table. Are they hiding something?
As I sat waiting for the September meeting to begin, I glanced through the report. It was obvious immediately that once again, it had changed. Then I listened to our treasurer tell us about incorrect numbers for YEARS, his changing the number of accounts from over 200 to 60 plus, and all the hard work of him, and his staff. A question surfaced, out of more of this board's secrecy. How much is it costing our association to bring the accounting in house, provide us selected and inadequate information that changes by the month, under treasurers that claim they know exactly what needs to be done? Think about it a minute. In the past, this treasurer went on and on about how we had paid $750/month for a CPA to perform our accounting and reporting services, deposit payments, file taxes, etc. We don't know what his newest and greatest plan is costing us. We do know that not one of the "accounting" department players, is a CPA. Back to cost. Everything was done in secrecy. Word games were played at the board table. When a board member asked if the contract person, who the treasurer called an accountant, was an accountant, they were told to look the word up. Certain board members skirted the question when asked if the contractor held an accounting degree. Initially we were told that the contractor would be paid to come in and review our paid staff person's entries, reconcile, etc., for about 4 hours a month. Is that all the hours the contractor is working? We were told the contractor worked cheap. What kind of a wage figure is that? Rumor is, that our paid staff person was given a raise to perform the accounting function services. What is that hourly wage? How many hours of the staff person's time is being billed to the accounting function?
I looked at the August financial report. The accounting contractor didn't fall under professional fees. That was all paid to the attorney. The only place it could be located, must be under payroll expense, which was $2,150.26! HOW MUCH OF THAT IS PURE ACCOUNTING EXPENSE? It looks to the Wedgefield Examiner that it would be far more than $750. Is it worth it? It just looks like we are paying a whole lot more and getting a whole lot less. It appears that it is worth it to your board to hide detail from you. What else is hidden?
Here are the reports. The complete August report is provided. The July report is just the first page due to space. You can view the entire July report on the WPA website.
