Rupert, I doubt volunteer accounting is fun; most people actually hate it. Further mor, most people actually can not do it as it should at all. No wonder this is a separate profession.
People can discuss your statement that wikipedia is not multinational on 200+ language version wikipedias :) It is global and it is multinational. About half of the WMF staff was born and raised (and lived most of their lives) outside the USA, including the past and the present EDs. Or check the finance fellows for example :) Accounting is the core of all activities; try not doing your personal tax report and you'll see. Wherever a single penny is changing hands, it has to be reported and properly accounted. It is not only required by the law everywhere but required for the sake of transparency and _accountability_ Balázs 2014.11.21. 19:45, "rupert THURNER" <rupert.thur...@gmail.com> ezt írta: > While this might sound attracting at a first glance the effect might be > exactly the opposite what is desired. > > First, The wikimedia movement is not multinational like coca Cola which > just buys what it needs. Wikimedia depends on volunteers. I would never > donate money if it is not spent on the people sweating for Wikipedia. So > behaving like a cold money hungry multinational driven by quarterly reports > poses a reputational risk. > > Second, The goal is to target as much money as possible to the mission. > Invent some non-core effort and then shifting it to a paid resource is > killing such a goal. The effort should ideally disappear, not being > outsourced. > > And, at the end of the day established (reporting ) standards should be > easy to follow for everybody, without the need of a "translator ". Just > like we know well from laws and other standards. > > Rupert > 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>