Meeting Minutes

Blind Information Technology Specialists

Annual meeting

December 14, 2022

The 2022 annual meeting was called to order at 8 PM ET by President Earleen Hughes. The chair of the credentials committee reported that Bits did have a quorum. The role call went as follows: President Earlene Hughes, Viola Bentson, Ray Campbell, Robin Frost, Karyn campbell, Jeff Bishop, Hayley Edick, Brad Snyder, Chanelle Allen, David Edick, Tom Jones, Scott Edwards, Lynne Koral, John McCann, Paul Miller, Richard Villa, Roberta Nevels, Christopher Maae, Debbie Hazelton, Douglas Hunsinger, Mike Hartwig, Taylor Arndt, Renee Zelickson, Scott Marshall, Marie Nelson, Jason Castonguay, janelle edwards, tim cumings, Les Kriegler, Jessica Dail, Rhonda Nelson, Mary Ward, Michael Doise, Anne Martin, Daveed Mandell, Jim Stanga, Penny Moss, Steve Bauer, Herbie Allen, Mervin Keck, Marcia Moses, Debbie Downey, Terrell Jones, Kathryn Hanks, Shane Aguilera, Judy Burch, John Ogilvie, Guillermo Robles, pam washam, Nichole Keck, Myrna Votta, Lynn August, Diane Scalzi, Meryl Shecter, Thomas Belsan, Mary Haupt, Martin Kuhn, Rosanna Beaudrie,

John McCann moved to adopt the agenda as circulated. Viola Bentson seconded. Motion passed with a majority vote from those present.

John McCann moved to accept the 2021 Annual meeting minutes as circulated. Chhris Maae seconded Motion passed with a majority from the participants.

Treasurer’s annual report:  BITS 2022 Fiscal Year Report

January 1-December 31, 2022

checking

Beginning balance: $7,213.97

Credits:

Deposits from PayPal account: $4,025.33

Deposits from convention registration: $1,420.00

Deposits from Amazon Smile donations: $0.00

Quarterly ACB monthly monitary support disbursements: $410.00

Three regular membership payments: $60.00

=$5,915.33

Debits:

Transfer to savings: $5,500.00

Yearly ACB affiliate dues remittance: $795.00

BITS convention door prizes: $200.00

Echo studio (ACB auction donation): $215.04

Roam smart speaker (ACB holiday auction donation): $242.83

Deluxe linux hosting with c-panel renewal, (two years): $287.76

Website backup (10GB) renewal, (two years): $71.76

BITS-ACB.ORG domain renewal, (one year): $21.17

Yearly groups.io premium email list administration plan: $220.00

Yearly Zoom account payment: 149.90

Incorp (corporate registered agent) service fee, (two years): $198.00

Biennial corporation filing fee: $0.00

Payment to resolve PayPal account negative balance: $0.89

=$7,902.35

Ending balance: $5,226.95

PayPal:

Beginning balance: $38.22

Credits:

134 regular membership payments: $2,680.00

5 BITS life membership payments: $1,250.00

9 ACB life membership payments: $135.00

One regular membership remainder payment: $5.00

One donation: $5.00

Return of funds withheld pending favorable case resolution: $20.00 *3

Payment to resolve PayPal account negative balance: $0.89

Transfer of funds from old PayPal account: $48.88

=$4,4144.77

Debits:

Disbursements to checking: $4,025.33

Transaction fees: $157.66

=$4,182.99

Ending balance: $0.00

Savings

Beginning balance: $26,621.47

Credits:

Transfer from checking: $5,500.00

Interest: $3.33

=$5,503.33

Debits:

None

Total debits: $0.00

Ending balance: $32,124.80

Total all accounts:

01/01/2022: $33,873.66

12/31/2022: $37,351.48

Net gain / loss: +$3,477.82

Audit Committee Report:  December 14, 2022

To: John McCann, Treasurer

Project Name: Financial Records

Dates of Scope: January 1, 2022-November 30, 2022

Date Completed: December 6, 2022

Committee Members: Merv Keck ,Diane Scalzi  , Taylor Arndt(chair)

Audit Objective

Pursuant to the Blind Information Technology Specialists (“BITS”) Bylaws, § 4.1.1, the Auditing Committee (the “Committee”) is tasked with auditing the financial records of the organization. This audit serves to determine whether an organization’s financial statements accurately and fairly reflect the financial condition of the organization in all material respects and whether adequate control procedures are in place to ensure accurate and fair financial reporting. This is the first time such an audit has been performed since 2019.

Background

BITS uses cash basis accounting. On a monthly basis, the Treasurer provides detailed Treasurer’s Reports to the board, with the beginning and ending balance in each account and the total in all accounts provided in meeting minutes. The Treasurer refers to bank statements of account transactions corresponding to the month in question in order to prepare the Treasurer’s Report for that month. The detailed Treasurer’s Reports have been consistently provided to the Board, typically within 1-2 days prior to the relevant board meetings or on the day of the meetings if they fall on the first day of the month.

All transactions carried out by BITS are approved by the Board. The organization’s variable costs, namely those pertaining to its participation in the American Council of the Blind (ACB) annual Conference and Convention, and the ticket prices for BITS events at the Convention, are determined by the board based on current hotel costs provided by the Convention Coordinator and on past expenses.

The Treasurer typically transfers funds from the Checking to the Savings account in the month following Board approval of such a transaction.

The Treasurer typically transfers the funds collected in BITS’ PayPal account, which represent membership dues, at the end of each month. Several members of the BITS board are notified of the receipt of PayPal payments.

More than one board member has access to BITS’ financial accounts. Account passwords are reset upon a change in leadership.

Transaction approvals and procedures are documented in Board Meeting Minutes which are accessible to BITS members via the organization’s Web site.

BITS is up to date with its annual IRS Form 990-N and biennial Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs corporation filings.

In the course of the audit, BITS’ IRS 501(c)3) determination letter, Articles of Incorporation, and application for the latest renewal of its Certificate of Deposit (CD) were placed on a board-access-only area of the BITS Web site for centralized access.

Scope and Methodology

The scope of the audit covered the time period of January 1, 2022-November 31, 2022, for which the Committee was provided with financial statements. Audit procedures included reconciling the Treasurer’s Reports with the corresponding checking and savings account statements; obtaining from the Treasurer and Web site administrator invoices as evidence of expenses incurred; corresponding verbally and in writing with the Treasurer and Web site administrator as required to obtain further information regarding control procedures; reviewing Board Meeting Minutes available on the BITS Web site to confirm procedure implementation; and conducting searches on Internal Revenue Service and Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs online portals to confirm that BITS has filed required documents.

Summary of Audit Results

In our judgment, sufficient and appropriate audit procedures were conducted, and evidence was gathered, to support the conclusions reached and contained in this report.  The conclusions and recommendations for this audit were based on an analysis of the facts using the audit criteria for the situations as they existed at the time of the audit.

The audit report may include audit issues and audit observations.  An audit issue is more significant for the entity being audited than an audit observation. An audit observation provides a suggested action.

While it is not possible to provide absolute assurance, the Treasurer’s Reports appear to fairly and accurately represent the financial condition of the organization, and control procedures appear to be sufficient and to be working as intended, with the exception of the areas noted below.

This audit resulted in 1 audit issue and 2 audit observations.

Audit Issues

• Audit Issue 1: The board minutes didn’t always match the treasures reports

Audit Observations

• Audit Observation 1: The links on the treasures report that point to PayPal point to the fees for the United Kingdom rather then the United States

Detailed Audit Results – Opportunities for Improvement

Audit Issues

Audit Issue 1: The board minutes didn’t always match the treasures reports

On more than one occasion, the balances reported on the treasures reports didn’t match up with the board meeting minutes.

Audit Recommendation 1

Ensure the treasures reports and the board meeting minutes match. There were times that the minutes were not delivered for 4-5 months after the meeting. This can cause issues with the balances being reported.

Audit Observations

Audit Observation 1: The links on the treasures report that point to PayPal point to the fees for the United Kingdom rather then the United States

On the bottom of the treasures report was a link to a page with the current PayPal fees. When the user clicks on this link, they are brought to a list of fees that reference the United Kingdom instead.

Audit Suggestion 1

It is suggested that the link on the bottom of the reports point to the correct region.