From ed28cac269366a6ba6e440ee6ce3704dfb4354f8 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: James Polley Date: Thu, 13 Sep 2018 19:38:04 +1000 Subject: [PATCH] Simplify conference budgeting by clarifying profit reporting Currently, we ask conferences to return $11/head plus a negotiated "surplus component". However, our financial reports only report a single "profit" from the conference; it's not clear from our reports how much of this covers LA expenses and how much is genuine profit. This change simplifies accounting and reporting by removing the surplus component. It is invisaged this would be complemented by: - A change from $11/head to 6% of total revenue as the fee LA charges - A change in reporting to show this as a fee returned to LA, reducing the reported "profit" by this amount The "Budgeting" section already suggests that conference budgets should "consider both direct concerns of the conference, and long-term investments in the community". This change would make it clearer how much profit is available for these long-term concerns. It is anticipated that most events will want to prioritise these items as "If we have space in the budget" items. --- subcommittee_policy_v2.md | 4 +++- 1 file changed, 3 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-) diff --git a/subcommittee_policy_v2.md b/subcommittee_policy_v2.md index 2fcd82c..ef6630e 100644 --- a/subcommittee_policy_v2.md +++ b/subcommittee_policy_v2.md @@ -106,7 +106,9 @@ Handover and Delegation of Authority ### Conference Proceeds * The council takes care of a number of expenses conferences incur, such as insurance, accounting/tax issues, credit card processing fees. The council will provide the amounts/formulas for these entries to be included as expenses in the subcommittee budget. -* Conferences must nominate a level of contingency for unforeseen expenses, and may be asked to nominate a surplus component in their budget. These amounts must meet the approval of council. The surplus proceeds of a conference contribute to the ongoing financial stability of Linux Australia and its ability to facilitate and support open technology communities. +* Conferences must nominate a level of contingency for unforeseen expenses which must meet the approval of council. +* A Conference may earmark any excess proceeds to be spent on future events, for supporting the community related to the conference, or to support international communities related to the conference. +* Conference are encouraged to direct a portion of their surplus proceeds to contribute to the ongoing financial stability of Linux Australia and its ability to facilitate and support open technology communities. ### Reporting * The subcommittee must report to the Linux Australia council regularly, in the form of minuted decisions and reports made by the subcommittee, including any budget updates.