Updated June 2019
SECTION 15 – FINANCES
15.0 TREASURER AND VICE TREASURER
The treasurer and vice treasurer shall be appointed as described in Article V, Section 1 of the Bylaws. Notwithstanding other provisions of the Bylaws, the president shall appoint the treasurer and vice treasurer to a term of office up to but not exceeding two years.
As stated in Article V, Section 6 of the Bylaws, the treasurer shall be responsible for preparing the Society’s annual budget, monitoring its income and expenses, and coordinating with the IEEE on the Society’s financial matters including the Society’s assets and investments.
The vice treasurer shall be responsible for assisting the treasurer, and chairing meetings of the Finance Committee in the event that the treasurer is unavailable.
15.1 MEMBERSHIP
The Finance Committee is a standing committee of the Board of Governors, charged with recommending financial policy and budgets to the Board. It shall be composed of the treasurer (chair), vice treasurer, the president, president-elect, past president, and the secretary. The Society Executive Director and the appropriate finance and accounting staff member will be ex officio, non-voting members of the committee. The vice presidents or their representatives will be ex officio, non-voting members of the committee.
15.1.1 Committee Responsibilities
The committee is responsible for coordinating the budget development process for the following year’s budget.
1. Each year (normally at the first meetings week), the Finance Committee will provide each program board with a budgetary guidance for preparing the following year’s budget.
2. Before the second meeting week, each program board shall submit a preliminary budget for the following year. In addition, each program board may prepare proposals for budget modifications. These proposals are considered by the Planning Committee as described elsewhere in IEEE Computer Society Policies and Procedures Manual Section 18. The findings of the Planning Committee are forwarded to the Finance Committee.
3. Within two weeks of receiving the recommendations of the Planning Committee, the Finance Committee will determine which of the budget changes can be made. In making the decisions, the Finance Committee may consider recommendations of the Society Executive Director.
4. Within two weeks of the Finance Committee’s decision regarding budget modifications, each program board will submit to the treasurer a plan and budget that is revised in accordance with the Finance Committee’s disposition of the budget modification requests.
5. The Finance Committee will prepare a draft recommended budget for circulation to the budget stakeholders 15 days prior to the IEEE deadline. The Finance Committee will consider any further information or appeals that any of the program boards wish to suggest, meeting in a formal hearing format.
6. The Finance Committee’s final recommendations for the following year’s budget will be presented to the Board of Governors for review, amendment, and approval no less than seven days prior to the IEEE deadline.
7. The final approved budget by the Board of Governors will be sent to the IEEE by the IEEE deadline.
8. The dates defined by the steps listed above may require modification depending on the timing of meetings and the IEEE budget cycle. The actual dates for any given year will be determined by approval of the annual planning calendar prepared by the Planning Committee.
15.1.2 Budget Monitoring
The committee is responsible for monitoring the current year income and expenditures relative to budget. It shall seek to anticipate potential problems, and to make recommendations for budget changes as appropriate.
15.1.3 Budget Modifications
All proposals resulting in full-year equivalent budget modifications of over $100,000, including new staff positions, must be presented to the Finance Committee prior to presentation to the Board of Governors for approval. It shall be the responsibility of the Finance Committee to make recommendations to the Board of Governors on such proposals. Budget modifications falling below the $100,000 threshold may be approved by the Finance Committee.
Out-of-cycle allocation of set-aside funds in any amount must be approved by the Finance Committee. The annual planning calendar prepared by the Finance Committee provides a schedule for such consideration.
15.1.4 Meeting Scheduling
Finance Committee meetings are to be scheduled in such a way as to permit, to the extent possible, consideration of proposals having financial implications prior to their submission to the Board of Governors.
15.2 BUDGET DEVELOPMENT
15.2.1 Fiscal Year
The fiscal year of the Computer Society is 1 January through 31 December.
15.2.2 Expenditure Approval within the Approved Base Budget
The existence of an approved base budget gives to the president, to the Executive Committee, and to each vice president, and to the standing committee chairs, within their respective areas of responsibility, the authority to approve expenditures within their respective budgets. Expenditures for reimbursements for travel expenses must be approved according to current Society regulations.
The president and vice presidents may, by writing to the treasurer, delegate their authority to approve expenditures to a total within or below the dollar amount specified for specific budget line items in the approved base budget to specific Society members who require it by virtue of their offices. Persons with authority to approve expenditures have the responsibility to stay within the authorized total. The appropriate finance and accounting staff member will provide budget versus actual reports on a regular and timely basis.
15.2.3 Expenditure Approval in Excess of the Approved Budget
Incremental expenditures for specific account number items which cause the total amount spent for those items to exceed the budgeted amount, may be approved by the following parties until the cumulative totals indicated are reached:
Executive Committee — $25,000 or less per operating or capital budget line item per meeting up to a cumulative total (across all budget lines and meetings) of 5% of the approved base budget.
President — $10,000 or less per operating or capital budget line item up to a cumulative total of 2.5% of the approved base budget.
No vice president or standing committee chair has the authority to spend in excess of their total budget allocation. Vice presidents and standing committee chairs do have the authority to authorize expenditures within a cost center that vary from the approved budget at the individual budget line detail level as long as the cost center total budget is not exceeded. Similarly, the Society Executive Director may authorize variances from individual budget lines for office operations, but may not exceed the approved total office operations budget.
15.2.4 Financial Exigency
The Executive Committee may limit or suspend the expenditure authority associated with any account or set of accounts due to fiscal irregularities or financial exigency. Any such limitation must be reported in complete detail to the board within 30 days by the person who was treasurer at the time.
15.2.5 Board Action
The board may, by resolution at any meeting or via between-meeting ballot as provided elsewhere in this manual, amend the budget, either implicitly or explicitly. An explicit amendment will state a dollar amount to be associated with a specific budget line. Implicit amendments are associated with approval of a new program or service, the proposal for which sets forth the budgetary impact, the approval of a new staff position, and other similar actions which affect the budget. The treasurer shall revise the budget as appropriate and the new budget will be known as the amended budget.
15.2.6 Budget Publication
The Agenda Book for each meeting of the board should contain a budget report by the treasurer that includes the approved base budget or the amended budget for the current year, so labeled. The Agenda Book for meeting 1 should also include the amended budget and the current forecast for the prior year. The budgets in the agenda books for subsequent meetings should include the forecast for the current year. The treasurer’s report should include a summary of changes since the last budget was distributed, and a summary of spending actions constituting amendments to the budget by the Executive Committee and the president.
15.2.7 Financial and Budgetary Guidelines and Targets
Over the long term, the IEEE Computer Society should operate at levels which produce sufficient surpluses to maintain its reserves at levels which will ensure its continued financial health. Annual operating budgets should be consistent with this long-term objective. . Reserves should be maintained to provide for the financial security of the society, to provide increased or new member services, to fund special projects, to provide initial start-up funding for new programs, to acquire capital equipment needed for the conduct of the society’s programs, and to protect the Society from short-term financial exigencies.
Each year the Finance Committee should recommend and the Board of Governors should adopt an operating budget with a minimum budgeted surplus of $500,000.
15.3 TRAVEL REGULATIONS
15.3.1 Permission to Travel Using Society Funds
Permission to travel using Society funds must be approved in advance by the responsible officer.
15.3.2 Staff Travel
Staff travel must be approved by the Society Executive Director or other staff manager to whom that responsibility has been delegated by the Society Executive Director.
15.3.3 Permissible Charges
All travel expenses must be reasonable and customary. Air fare will not be budgeted to exceed coach fare. Discounted fares should be used when available. The Society will pay penalties associated with the cancellation or change of discounted tickets for authorized society travel of volunteers or staff caused by circumstances beyond the traveler’s control. If railroad fare or personal mileage charges exceed the coach air fare available at the time, only the air fare cost will be allowed. Rental automobiles are allowed when public transportation would not normally be utilized for personal travel, or when the use of a rental car is more economical than travel by common carrier.
The lowest cost form of local travel should be used whenever possible. Use of one’s personal automobile may be reimbursed at the current rate per mile established by the IEEE. Total expenses, including tolls, may not exceed allowable air fare and expenses which would have been incurred if air transportation were used. Current IEEE policies (e.g., rental automobile collision insurance, piloting private aircraft, etc). also apply (see IEEE Finance Operations Manual).
Allowable room charges are those which would be incurred by a prudent traveler. Food and beverage charges, including tips, in excess of $25 per transaction must be accompanied by original receipts and justification.
All other expenses incurred during the course of travel on Society business not explicitly listed herein should be reasonable and customary.
15.3.4 Travel Expense Accounting — Procedure for Reimbursement
The request for reimbursement form submitted to the appropriate finance and accounting staff member must account for all monies expended on travel. If prior approval for travel has not been obtained, the reimbursement form must be approved the responsible vice president or other officer. Travel expense accounting shall be filed within 45 days of the completion of the travel. The appropriate finance and accounting staff member is responsible for assuring that travel expenses are within Society policy before authorizing reimbursement unless specific exceptions have been approved. The appropriate finance and accounting staff member is responsible for seeing that appropriate documentation of expenses is provided by travelers requesting reimbursement.
15.4 TREASURER
5.4.1 Disbursement of Society Funds
The treasurer is responsible for monitoring all Society assets in keeping with Society policy.
Responsibility for all such disbursements is delegated by the treasurer to the Society Executive Director, who in turn delegates financial authority to other Society staff, doing so in a formal memorandum of financial authority that explicitly sets forth the level of authority of each staff position. All receipts and disbursements are recorded and reported in monthly financial statements to the treasurer and other volunteer leaders, as appropriate.
15.4.2 Reports
The treasurer must monitor the receipt and expenditure of all Society funds and at each board meeting report the status of such funds to the Executive Committee, Finance Committee and Board of Governors.
15.5 FINANCIAL ADMINISTRATION
15.5.1 Financial Operation
Financial operation is performed in accordance with the policies of the IEEE.
