Hi Richard, I think I was a bit misunderstandable here.
I'm not talking about the local reports but about the "translations" of them for WMF. I would be more than happy if WMF would do it themselves. This is what these fellows are doing as of my understanding in the next 6 months. The bright future for me would be the "automated" version of this: WMF pays for an accounting firm preferably a "big four" company (Deloitte, KPMG, Ernst & Young or PriceWaterhouseCoopers) to do the accounting for all the chapters. Why? Because they are present in almost every country in the world. For small/new chapters and other current and future formations in need to present an audited statement for the WMF it would be definitely a benefit to have someone do the job. If they would do the local "regular" accounting imo it would be even better. So I have two levels here. One "normal": the local and one "translated" for WMF. These big firms are capable of doing both. Maybe if we look into that deeply it can turn out that on a global level we might end up saving on the accounting costs with such a contract. But that is just my idea, no data to support it. The fellows will be definitely able to answer such a question though in six months time. Balazs 2014-11-21 12:46 GMT+00:00 Richard Symonds <richard.symo...@wikimedia.org.uk >: > Hi Balazs, > > This, while at first glance a credible idea, wouldn't work for a number of > reasons: > > - it misunderstands how major accounting firms work. Even if one > accounting group carried out the work, the people doing the work would > be > the local accounting firms (eg KPMG Hungary, KPMG UK). These firms would > have different methodologies and practices. > - Some chapters, including WMUK, have a legal responsibility to be > independent. Having someone else report our finances would jeopardise > that > independence. > - Bigger chapters - and some smaller ones - already have established > reporting procedures and practices, which in some cases are better than > the > WMF's systems. It would be extremely difficult to update our systems > from > our own, to WMF-led ones. > - There would still be delays and errors in reporting - and the dates > would still change because each country has different tax years (etc). > - Every organisation measures things differently - we all have different > cost centres, nominal codes, departments etc - having the WMF come in > and > change them would be very difficult and would run the risk of some > organisations losing accuracy in their reporting (or would run the risk > of > having a massively complex system to account for everything). At its > simplest level, definitions of things like "governance" or "office > costs" > vary from country to country. For example, in WMUK, we count general > postage of letters as office costs, but items that fall under the Royal > Mail definition of parcels instead come out of the budget for a > project. If > you're to have the same reporting for every country, you need to all be > using the same definition of "parcel"! > - Finally, every organisation's goals are different - and indeed our > funding streams are different. WMUK is mostly funded from outside the > movement, and as a result we are able to use our resources to fund > non-Wikimedia projects - for example, OpenStreetMap, or OpenCorporates, > if > we wanted to. We can even fund political lobbying to a fair degree, > which > is something the WMF can't do as easily. This means that the WMF has no > interest in counting that expenditure, because lobbying for open > knowledge > is not a WMF goal in the same way that it's a WMUK goal. It would be > funded > without using WMF funds, and would be spent on non-WMF goals. > > Very complicated, and I'm sorry to write such a long email, but > standardising financial systems across continents is a very difficult thing > to do! > > All the best, > > Richard Symonds > Wikimedia UK > 0207 065 0992 > > Wikimedia UK is a Company Limited by Guarantee registered in England and > Wales, Registered No. 6741827. Registered Charity No.1144513. Registered > Office 4th Floor, Development House, 56-64 Leonard Street, London EC2A 4LT. > United Kingdom. Wikimedia UK is the UK chapter of a global Wikimedia > movement. The Wikimedia projects are run by the Wikimedia Foundation (who > operate Wikipedia, amongst other projects). > > *Wikimedia UK is an independent non-profit charity with no legal control > over Wikipedia nor responsibility for its contents.* > > On 21 November 2014 11:38, Balázs Viczián <balazs.vicz...@wikimedia.hu> > wrote: > > > Hmm...I would love to *outsource *financial reporting to WMF together > with > > a couple of other tasks as well (program evaluation for example). > > > > Imo the best would be to contact our (that is WM Hungary) accountant > > directly so they can get the data organized as wanted, on time, with > > explanations requested, etc. > > > > In long terms I would love to see a global contract with KPMG (as WMF is > > using them, or another of the big four) where KPMG (or an alternative > firm > > if not present there) would take this task over from local chapters. > > > > That would ensure that the data is collected the exact same way (with > same > > definitions and methodology used) in every single country, without delays > > or errors in reporting and on the best dates for WMF. > > > > Not to mention that it would decrease the workload of the chapters what I > > think barely if ever happened yet. > > > > Balazs > > _______________________________________________ > > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines > > Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org > > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, > > <mailto:wikimedia-l-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe> > > > _______________________________________________ > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines > Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, > <mailto:wikimedia-l-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe> > _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, <mailto:wikimedia-l-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe>
