THE PRESIDENT’S PAGE
Dear Members,
This is my very last missive to you as President. At the Annual General Meeting on June 8, I will step down from the Board. It has been a true privilege to serve you, but my health has unfortunately put severe restrictions on my time and made it difficult to be present at events and perform my duties properly. I have focused on what I perceived as being the priorities: the Newsletter and the accounts.
In January, I realised that I would not be able to present anything resembling normal accounts. Paying invoices and expenses in the bank and making sure that receipts and invoices are kept for entry into the system is easy. Anyone can do that. How to enter data into a rather complex accounting system is another thing. It became an insurmountable task for me and a source of much frustration, I have to admit. So, finding a more user-friendly accounting system and support became an obvious necessity. The Board settled on Tripletex (accounting software) and Account Group as the supervising accounting firm. I have used my personal auditor as an advisor in all this, as my bookkeeping skills are less than adequate. I wish I had had some of Vicky Alme’s skills!
Account Group will give the new Board a Teams session on how to feed the required documents into Tripletex. Hopefully, an IF member will come forward and volunteer to take on this task. Account Group will set up the full accounts at the end of the Forum’s financial year. It will also check the entries once a month and correct things that are not correctly entered. The Board strongly recommends changing the financial year from May-April to January-December. The AGM can still be held in June. A change to a normal financial year will give the Treasurer and the Auditor more time to prepare the accounts in time for the AGM. This transfer is one of the things that we shall vote on at the AGM.
When a new Board has been elected, I hope that they can rely on the support and trust of all members. This will be a good crew. I shall also be available for questions and clarifications to ensure a smooth transition.
This is not a goodbye. Far from it. I will not leave the Forum in June. I have too many friends whom I wish to continue to see, and I will try to participate more in the day-time events. So, see you all around!
Elizabeth S. Rasmussen
President