Dollar$ and sen$e and PSA - Photographic Society of America

DOLLAR$ and SEN$E and PSA

For the second consecutive year, our financial statements are free from any evidence of an auditor's concern that we may not be able to continue operating. This is only part of the evidence supporting our optimism about the Society's future.

Financial Operations

During the year just past, we repaid all of the obligations owed to the Restricted Funds from prior-year deficiencies, a total of over $61,000. We established a system of cash reserves that includes the proceeds from the sale of the Philadelphia property and the deferred revenues. And through active money management, we achieved a significant increase in investment income, thus partially offsetting the continually escalating operational costs.

At the same time, we continued to maintain a favorable ratio of current assets to current liabilities. As our vendors and our volunteer workers can attest, we continue to pay all approved bills on time and in full. And as the investment summary suggests, we have made a constructive move from short-term to long-term financial planning.

Footnotes

All of the auditor's footnotes are important to an understanding of the financial statements, but there are several that merit your special attention. Let's start with the reference to the Chapters (1). At Scottsdale the Board of Directors authorized major changes in Chapter operations relative to Society operations as a whole, starting in June of next year. Although the changes may cause some temporary inconvenience, in future years they will allow us to account for Chapter operations as vital, required elements in our reports on the Society's fiscal well-being.

The Pension Plan in Philadelphia was terminated as of December 31, 1987 (5). This year a total of $187,183 was distributed among 12 former Philadelphia employees. This was in addition to the almost $34,000 we paid out the previous year to several of the same employees, as we brought the Philadelphia operation to a close.

Last year we undertook the difficult conversion (1) from an operation based on spending all membership dues when received, to one in which we recognize only 1/12th of each month's dues receipts as income and place the balance in reserve for the time when it has been earned. The auditor's footnote (9) indicates that $157,830 of the dues reported for 1988-89 was actually received in prior years. It is important to note that this amount had not been placed in reserve, and thus represents dollars we had to do without this year. That difficult transition is now behind us.

The Road Ahead

Two years of progress should not cause us to forget that the Society has been severely weakened by over two decades of operating deficits. Nor should the fact that we have a more efficient Headquarters operation and an improved Journal delivery time cause us to ignore the weaknesses that still need to be overcome. Forward motion in several of these areas has already started. We have embarked on a long-needed effort to improve the accuracy of our membership reports, and to bring membership data into accounting balance for the first time. We are already beginning to assess what needs to be done to provide better programs for our members, for whom the shared learning and practice of photography is the real "bottom line."

No one should feel that we can, overnight, accomplish all that needs to be done; that would be an impossible task. But we can, today, do far more than we were able to do just two years ago, or even one year ago. If we all make the conscious commitment to continue the pattern of responsible management that has been set, we will be able to undertake still more tomorrow, and in future years.

COPYRIGHT 1990 Photographic Society of America, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group