Procedures

BSA Governance Information

BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA
OPERATIONAL PROCEDURES
AND ACCOUNTING MANUAL

Revised April 2017; April 2019; April 2023

TABLE OF CONTENTS

I. OVERVIEW OF ORGANIZATION
    BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA (BSA)
    PUBLICATIONS
    COMMUNITY SUPPORT via EDUCATIONAL OUTREACH

II.QUICKBOOKS ONLINE ACCOUNTING
    CHART OF ACCOUNTS & CLASSES
    INCOME PROCESSING
    INSTITUTIONAL SUBSCRIPTIONS
    PAYROLL
    ACCOUNTS PAYABLE
    PETTY CASH
    BANK ACCOUNTS
    BANK RECONCILIATIONS
    INSURANCE POLICIES
    ENDOWMENT FUND & SALOMON SMITH BARNEY ACCOUNTING
    ACCOUNTANT RESPONSIBILITIES
    ANNUAL BUDGETS
    MONTHLY / ANNUAL CLOSE OF BOOKS
    DONATIONS TO THE BSA
    QUID PRO DONATIONS TO THE BSA
    RECORD RETENTION
    MONTHLY / ANNUAL CHECKLIST

III. WEB SITE & DATABASE MANAGEMENT
    WEBSITE MANAGEMENT
    ONLINE DUES PROCESSING
    DATABASE MANAGEMENT

IV. INTERNAL CONTROL
    OPENING MAIL & CASH RECEIPTS
    SIGNING CHECKS
    BANK RECONCILIATIONS

V. GRANT MANAGEMENT & ADMINISTRATION

VI. ANNUAL MEETING

VI. SECTION & SPECIAL FUNDS ACCOUNTS
    SECTIONS
       Allotment Allocation
       Use of Allotments
    SPECIAL ACCOUNTS
       BSA Unrestricted Funds
       BSA Endowment Fund
       BSA Educational Fund
       BSA Botanical Friends Fund
       BSA PlantingScience Fund
       Vernon I Cheadle Fund
       Michael Cichan Fund
       Conant Travel Fund
       Isabel Cookson Fund
       Leasure K. Darbaker Fund
       Katherine Esau Fund
       Donald Kaplan Fund
       John S. Karling Fund
       Margaret Menzel Fund
       Maynard Moseley Fund
       Winfried and Reneta Remy Fund
       James M. and Esther N. Schopf Fund
       A. J. Sharp
       Thorhaug Fund
       Grady L. Webster Fund
       Wilson Fund

Supporting Documents - BSA Bylaws, BSA Policies


 

I. OVERVIEW OF ORGANIZATION

BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA (BSA)

The Botanical Society of America (BSA) is a "not-for-profit" membership society that exists to promote botany, the field of basic science dealing with the study and inquiry into the form, function, diversity, reproduction, evolution, and uses of plants and their interactions within the biosphere. We over 3,000 members from around the world we are one of the largest organizations supporting the botanical sciences.

We are a 501©(3) organization that was originally incorporated in Connecticut – TAX ID# 62-0671591. The BSA Executive Director is our agent for service in the state of Connecticut and files the incorporation renewal with the CT Secretary of State every 2 years. The administrative offices of the BSA are located in St. Louis, Missouri adjacent to the Missouri Botanical Gardens (MOBOT) and MOBOT provides the site and support services to the BSA. BSA staff are employees of MOBOT.

Sales tax – the BSA has no obligation to charge sales tax for internet sales. All internet sales across state lines are not subject to sales tax (as of now…).

As the BSA operates as a non-profit in Missouri, they have applied for and received an exemption so they don’t have to charge sales tax (which would normally apply to merchandise sales to Missouri residents). Their Tax Exempt# 18473598.

The BSA is registered as a non-profit organization with the Missouri Secretary of State.

The BSA has a fiscal year of October 1st to September 30th. Prior to 1999, the organization had a June fiscal year end but it was changed to encompass the Annual Meeting activity in July/August.

Missouri does not require a corporate or non-profit return filing so the Association only files an annual federal non-profit tax return, form 990. This form is available online at a national non-profit website located at: www.guidestar.org. As a non-profit , the Association is required to provide a current copy of their tax return to any person or organization that requests it (and the BSA can charge them a copy or mailing fee).

The BSA formerly had their administrative offices in Columbus, Ohio and they still have one employee who works from her home and administers the Annual Meeting for the BSA.

PUBLICATIONS

The Botanical Society of America publishes a magazine called the American Journal of Botany (AJB); an online subscription is included in each annual membership fee. Apart from members, institutional subscribers (clients) also purchase the journal.

The editorial office in St. Louis handles the editing & publishing of the AJB on a monthly basis; Pamela Diggle is the current editor.

Sheridan Press handles the publication of the monthly AJB and, as part of their processing, creates the electronic files that are then forwarded to High Wire Press who publishes the journal electronically via the web site - http://www.amjbot.org.

The Editorial office is provided by the BSA has an immaterial amount of money invested in equipment.

The Plant Science Bulletin (BI) is another publication of the BSA printed quarterly & published by a volunteer committee who work with staff to prepare the files submitted to Sheridan Press for printing and distribution. The BSA PSB is online and freely available to all at - http://cms.botany.org/home/publications/plant-science-bulletin.html.

We also publish the online-only, open access journal Applications in Plant Science (APPS) through American Institute of Biological Sciences platform, BioOne. It can be found at - http://www.bioone.org/loi/apps.

COMMUNITY SUPPORT VIA EDUCATIONAL OUTREACH

In 2004 the BSA began the development of the online mentoring program for middle, high school called PlantingScience - https://www.plantingscience.org. It has supported over 20,000+ students in developing and conducting plant based research projects. PlantingScience is a National Science Foundation educational development supported project.

 

II. QUICKBOOKS ONLINE ACCOUNTING

The BSA’s accounting records are kept online with Quickbooks. That site is located at https://login.quickbooks.com. Quickbooks/Intuit is responsible for the daily backup of this information at an off-site server.

Separate sign-ins are available for Wanda (St. Louis office), Johanne (working from home in Ohio), and Mary (off-site accountant).

All financial reporting is done through the online Quickbooks program.

CHART OF ACCOUNTS & CLASSES

See the attached appendix for the full chart of accounts

As part of the accounting, each Income and Expense transaction is also posted to a specific department, called Class, within Quickbooks. This allows the reporting of BSA results by the following classes:

1 – St. Louis
2 – AJB (American Journal of Botany)
3 – EC (Executive Committee)
4 – Annual Meeting Activity
5 – Sections and Special Interest Accounts
6 – Awards
7 – Investment activity
8 – PSB (Plant Science Bulletin)

INCOME PROCESSING

Income is generated from the following sources:

  • INSTITUTIONAL SUBSCRIPTIONS to American Journal of Botany (AJB) – As of January 1, 2017, AJB is published online only. BSA directly invoices a small percentage of libraries and institutions. The majority of renewals and new subscriptions are handled by Subscription Agents. Annual Subscription Rates are determined by the BSA Board and details can be found on our Subscription Tab. BSA accepts payments via check in US Dollars, credit cards, and wire transfers. BSA Office processes the income in accordance with established cash receipting procedures. An electronic system has been developed by the majority of the agents to transfer subscription data to BSA’s subscription database.
  • MISCELLANEOUS INCOME – Payments of editorial and open access fees pertaining to AJB and Applications in Plant Sciences (APPS),  advertising, and other royalties are received, deposited and recorded in Q’Books.
  • ANNUAL BSA MEMBERSHIPS – Memberships are renewed on a calendar year basis & the majority of the renewals are received during the winter months of November through February. Renewing members pay a variety of fees based on the type of membership (professional, student, emeritus, life). As a benefit of membership, an online subscription to the AJB (American Journal of Botany) is included. (See additional information regarding BSA Memberships & Sectional fee information on the Membership Tab)
      • MAIL IN MEMBER RENEWALS – Payments are received at the St. Louis office and processed by the Membership and Subscriptions Director and the Administrations Officer in accordance with internal control procedures established by BSA. Please note: all membership forms are destroyed after processing as we do not keep any credit card information on site.
      • ONLINE MEMBER RENEWALS – BSA has established an online system for renewals and new members. Credit card transactions are processed through a third party Gateway (First Data) and the payments are deposited electronically into BSA’s Checking Account. BSA does not store credit card numbers. CIviCRM, a constituent relationship management software system, is used to collect all membership and subscription data. Various reports are generated for the purpose of oversight and reconciliation of dollars and memberships.

    MANAGEMENT SERVICES PROVIDED TO OTHER GROUPS.   BSA provides management and membership services to Society for Study of Evolution (SSE) and Society for Economic Botany (SEB). SSE and SEB issue checks in accordance with negotiated contracts. Payments are received and processed using established cash receipting procedures.

    PAYROLL

    BSA Staff Members are ‘officially’ employed by the Missouri Botanical Garden (MOBOT) and fall under the MOBOT umbrella for fringe benefits, including retirement, workers compensation coverage, and sick and vacation time. BSA reimburses MOBOT for out-of-pocket costs of these employees. All BSA employees are Salaried /Exempt from overtime pay.

    BSA personnel committee oversees the performance and employee reviews for employees using a standard Employee Evaluation and Appraisal Form. The BSA Executive Director and MOBOT Human Resources Director manage the performance review process.

    MOBOT uses Ceridian Dayforce as the Payroll and HR system. This system allows for timekeeping, payroll, benefit administration and other HR functions to be fully integrated into one system. The system is available 24/7 via internet connection. BSA supervisors approve hours worked and paid time off on a bi-weekly basis prior to payroll processing.

    BSA Executive Director coordinates with Commerce Bank on the preparation and mailing of the checks to MOBOT Controllers Office to cover each pay period.

    The BSA Finance Director receives, reviews, and reconciles monthly payroll project budget variance detail reports from Missouri Botanical Garden. The Finance Director creates monthly journal entries for the Quick Books system to capture the details, including class tracking for allocation of time.

    In addition, employees performing work in cost reimbursable grant funded positions record activity hours by project on a separate tracking spreadsheet. The spreadsheets pertaining to time charged to grants are received and reviewed by the Finance Director.

    Time Usage Tracking Sheet - http://www.botany.org/governance/reports/BSATimesheet.xls

    The following six BSA employees work in the St. Louis, MO Office.

    Heather Cacanindin, Membership and Subscriptions Director

    Wanda Lovan, Director of Finance and Administration

    Amy McPherson, Director of Publications, Managing Editor of American Journal of Botany

    Beth Parada, Managing Editor of Applications in Plant Sciences

    Richard Hund, Production Editor of American Journal of Botany

    Catrina Adams, Education Director

     

    Four BSA employees work from other locations as described.

    Bill Dahl, Executive Director (Monument, CO)

    Johanne Stogran, Conference Director (Granville, OH)

    Jodi Creasap-Gee, Education Technology Manager (Kansas City, MO)

    Robert Brandt, Information and Technology Director (Santa Barbara, CA)

    As employees of MOBOT, staff also adhere to the policies of the Garden - https://info.mobot.org/mbgpolicies/mbgpolicies.htm

     

    ACCOUNTS PAYABLE

    All operational and section cash disbursements are made from the BSA’s primary bank account at Commerce Bank.

    Within Quickbooks, checks are written through the menu option Banking, Write Checks. The bank account is #1025, Commerce Bank. Choose a payee from the vendor list (drop down arrow to the right of Payee field), input the amount & memo, and then post to a specific Account (drop down arrow to the right of the Account field), and add a Class.

    Leave the ‘to be printed’ box checked so the system can automatically assign check numbers when printing checks.

    Then go to Banking, Print Checks, change the bank account to #1025 and add the starting check number. Put the computer checks in the printer & then print. Align as needed to fit the check form.

    For internal control, it is BSA policy to have two signatures on each check.

    PETTY CASH

    When a check is first written to fund the petty cash drawer, that payment is posted to Account# 1020 – Petty Cash Missouri. As cash is used up, the receipts are collected so that they may be entered into the accounting system as expenses.

    To re-fund the cash drawer, a check is written to cash for the new amount to replenish the drawer. Simultaneously, a journal entry is recorded in Quickbooks to record how the previous cash was spent.

    A sample journal entry is recorded as:

    Debit: Office Expense (for receipts on hand) $35.
    Debit: Meals Expense (for receipts on hand) $50
    Credit: Petty Cash/MO $85.

    As with any payment, a class designation needs to be input for each expense entry.

    At any time, the balance for Petty Cash in the financial statements should match the combination of the cash on hand plus the receipts in the drawer.

    Example:

    Starting cash to fund drawer $100

    Receipts on hand ($85)
    Net cash on hand $ 15

    Add: new check to replenish funds $100

    Equals: cash on hand in drawer $115

    BANK ACCOUNTS

    Commerce Bank, Missouri (3) – BSA has three separate accounts, two general checking accounts (one for BSA General Income and Expenses and one for Botany Conference Income and Expenses plus a Money Market account). Executive Director and Administrations Officer administer and oversee the Commerce Bank Accounts. Online access is available for all accounts.

    Authorized signatures on the accounts are updated periodically by submitting new signature cards to Commerce Bank. BSA has established investment accounts with Morgan Stanley–These accounts are overseen by the Finance Committee and include the BSA endowment and long-term savings of the Society. Online access has been established to these accounts. BSA Finance Committee makes decisions regarding the investment portfolio. Investment accounts are updated in QuickBooks by Schowalter and Jabouri, Inc , BSA’s outside accounting firm.

    BANK RECONCILIATIONS

    These are prepared monthly for all open bank accounts. Use Quickbooks help for additional instruction.

    When the bank reconciliation is complete, print a copy of that month’s check register and save it with the bank reconciliation summary/detail report.

    INSURANCE POLICIES

    The BSA maintains the following policies:

    • Hanover – Business Owner’s Insurance
    • Assured Partners of Missouri – Executive Risk
    • Insurance for the St. Louis, Missouri administrative offices is provided for Missouri Botanical Garden as they own the building.
    • Worker’s compensation insurance is provided for all employees through Missouri Botanical Garden

    ENDOWMENT FUND & MORGAN STANLEY ACCOUNTING

    In 1993, the BSA created an endowment fund with the purpose of increasing the monetary assets of the Society to provide income for funding major initiatives, travel grants, scholarships, and other activities within its Mission. The Financial Advisory Committee (FAC) has been given the authority to manage this fund.

    The endowment funds are held at Morgan Stanley, and are invested in a mixture of stocks, corporate bonds, and cash. Each account is ‘actively managed’ and incurs a quarterly investment fee.

    Contributions are made to the endowment fund by a direct contribution made through the business office or through the annual online membership renewal process.

    Although the BSA Board of Directors refers to the entirety of funds held in Morgan Stanley Smith Barney as the ‘Endowment Fund’, for accounting and tax purposes, only specific donations made to the Endowment Fund are separated on the financial statements. Since the BSA has a specific plan (as approved in their bylaws) for how Endowment funds are to be presented, and since they have solicited for funds on this basis, the BSA must account for those donations separately than other operational funds that have accumulated in the course of time.

    The FAC has voted that the BSA Endowment fund will be allocated their pro-rata share of any investment increases or decreases that occur during the year, including both realized and unrealized gains.

    ACCOUNTANT RESPONSIBILITIES

    The Treasurer has a three year term of office within the BSA. Each Treasurer chooses the accountant that they want to work with (normally in their local area) who is responsible for the following:

    • Preparation of the annual tax return (form 990)
    • Preparation of quarterly financial statements
    • Preparation of the NY payroll & the related payroll tax returns & year end W-2’s
    • Preparation of forms 1099 at year end (for non-employee compensation exceeding $600)
    • Accounting support for the Business Office as needed, including assistance with the annual budget preparation

    ANNUAL BUDGET

    The Executive Director, Bill Dahl, handles the drafting of the annual budget which the Treasurer presents to the Board for approval at the annual meeting in July/August.

    MONTHLY / ANNUAL CLOSE OF BOOKS

    The Quickbooks online accounting software does not require a monthly or annual closing of the books. At the fiscal year end, Quickbooks automatically reclassifies net income to Retained Earnings as of October 1st. The accountant then creates a journal entry to reclassify the Retained Earnings to the various BSA fund accounts.

    DONATIONS TO THE BSA

    When donations are made to the BSA (including through the web site), the donation is classified as either “unrestricted” or “restricted”. Unrestricted donations are made with ‘no strings attached’ and can be spent freely by the BSA on anything they choose. Restricted donations are made to be spent for a ‘specific purpose’ or item and need to be tracked separately in the financially statements and internally so that our record keeping can support that we actually spent the item how we were supposed to. We need to save all correspondence that comes in with these ‘restricted’ donations for tax support.

    QUID PRO QUO DONATIONS TO THE BSA

    Even though the BSA is a non-profit organization, donations to the BSA to pay membership dues are not a tax deductible charitable donation UNLESS a specific donation is made to the BSA endowment or one of the special funds, and in that case, only the donation part of the cost is tax-deductible.

    Membership dues are not considered a ‘charitable donation’ as you receive something back in return (in the form of member services, including the AJB subscription).

    For businesses, the BSA membership cost is a business deduction (fully deductible) and for individuals, it is a personal non-deductible cost. On an individual return, it might be considered a ‘Union & Professional Dues’ cost deductible as an itemized deduction on Schedule A.

    This explanation covers regular dues as well as section dues paid in.

    RECORD RETENTION

    All membership, check disbursement and banking records should be maintained for a minimum of 7 years.

    The exception to that is any records pertaining to assets that are still held by the BSA, including the Salamon Smith Barney accounts and all correspondence related to the Endowment account.

    MONTHLY / ANNUAL CHECKLIST

    See the appendix for a calendar of key dates

 

III. WEB SITES & DATABASE MANAGEMENT

WEB SITE MANAGEMENT

The BSA maintains a number of web sites, including http://botany.org, http://botanyconference.org and https://www.plantingscience.org

The AJB journal maintains a web site called the www.amjbot.org

ALL web sites and database support are maintained by the BSA.

ONLINE DUES PROCESSING

The majority of the BSA membership renewals are now processed online via the www.botany.org web site.

The BSA does not store or otherwise retain transaction data such as credit card information in it's databases or other facilities.  Access to transaction data located with the it's merchant services banking account is strictly limited to the Administration Officer.

DATABASE MANAGEMENT

The current database runs off of the BSA web site at http://botany.org and is maintained by BSA Information & Technology Director, Rob Brandt.

The database contains all current individual membership information since 2002, including section alliances, donations made to the BSA, papers written, and officer positions held. Prior membership information is available but no supplemental information on donations, etc. is available for past years.

To keep the database current, all outside deposit info (for Special interest accounts too) will be manually input into the Database so that those reports can be used as the Master control of all financial deposits to the BSA. What is not input into the database are miscellaneous receipts non-specific to a member, such as advertising revenue, editorial charges, etc.

The goal of the BSA is to have the majority of their individual memberships activity occur online.  This includes joining, renewing, making donations, and maintinging current contact information.

 

IV. INTERNAL CONTROL

Opening Mail & Cash Receipts

Two staff members are involved with the mail opening and cash receipts.

  1. Director of Membership Opens the mail.
  2. Logs the checks using an Excel spreadsheet
  3. Records information in CiviCRM database for Members and Clients. Places a check mark on each order or supporting document to show that entries have been made.
  4. Checks are then passed to the Finance Officer.
  5. Finance Officer Endorses checks “For Deposit Only to appropriate bank account”
  6. Handwrites each check onto bank deposit slip, grouping deposits by type of revenue such as Membership, Subscription, Endowment. A batch number is assigned to each deposit slip.
  7. Deposits entered into QuickBooks – one deposit for each batch/deposit slip
  8. Drives checks with deposit slips to bank; receives teller receipt for all deposits
  9. Gives receipts for deposits to Director of Membership.
  10. Director of Membership Notes on her spreadsheet, verifying that checks were received by bank. She places her initial on deposit slip and returns slip to Finance Officer.
  11. Finance Officer Staples Deposit Receipt to Deposit Slip
  12. Reconciles bank statements monthly, recording all membership income received from Online store through YOURPAY API

Signing Checks

Bank Reconciliations

COMMERCE BANK - Wanda opens mail, makes deposits, reconciles bank statement; Bill has online access and reviews frequently, makes cash transfers and reviews financial statements frequently.

MEETING ACCOUNT: Johanne makes all deposits and writes all checks; bank statements and cancelled checks are sent to Wanda who reviews the cancelled checks and reconciles the account.

ONLINE DUES PAYMENT – cash is directly deposited into Commerce Bank account.

Cash Disbursments

Finance Officer

  1. Receives invoices via e-mail, regular mail, or fax.
  2. Reviews invoices, consults with appropriate staff members to verify payment is owed to vendor. Review may include checking contracts or packing slips.
  3. For credit card statements, receipts are obtained and verified before check is prepared.
  4. For reimbursement of out of pocket expenses, the Missouri Botanical Garden expense form is used, receipts required
  5. For restricted funds (sections & awards) a special form is required. The head of the section must sign the form
  6. Check is written and printed from QuickBooks software, charged to correct bank account and recorded in the correct expense category and class
  7. All checks require two signatures, Executive Director & Finance Officer in most cases (with Director of Publications serving as a backup signatory). Conference Director has signature authority for Conference Bank Account only
  8. Signed checks are mailed to vendors within timeframe to avoid finance/late charges.
  9. Check stubs are filed with invoices/other supporting documentation
  10. Finance Officer reconciles bank accounts monthly and follows up on any uncashed checks to vendors.
  11. Executive Director reviews and approves Check Activity Log monthly.

 

V. GRANT MANAGEMENT & ADMINISTRATION

It is the policy of the Society to seek out granting organizations which match our Mission and Objectives, Strategies and Programs, in order that we may most fully achieve the criteria and enhance the reputation of the Society. The Society fully complies with all granting agent policies and procedures and produces all required reports on time and to the detail requested.

Compliance – The Botanical Society of America will comply with all grant requirements and these must be referenced/included in all contracts/subcontracts, in specific we note the following for Federal Funding Agencies:

  1. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circulars (see all)
  2. Flowdown Provisions
    • Debarment
    • Civil Rights
    • Equal Opportunity
  3. FEDERAL FINANCIAL REPORTING PROCEDURE

    Botanical Society of America has four authorized users of the NSF Research.Gov (Online Grants Management for the NSF Community) as follows:

    Executive Director – PI, SPO, AOR, INSTADMIN, VIEWRPTS
    Director of Finance - SPO, AOR, INSTADMIN, FFRPREP, FFRCERT, VIEWRPTS
    Director of Education - PI, SPO, VIEWRPTS
    Director of Publications – trained as backup for disbursements in case of emergency illnesses, prolonged staff absences

  4. The BSA Board of Directors approves who will serve as Principal Investigators on NSF grants. The PI responsible for financial oversight will be a BSA staff person, unless approved otherwise by the BSA Board. The PIs and Executive Director prepare the budget and negotiate contracts in accordance with the terms of the award and BSA policies. The Board of Directors has delegated the authority to accept awards and award amendments to the Executive Director.

    The PI also takes primary responsibility for ensuring compliance with federal regulations as well as the monitoring of expenditures, timely correction of errors, and proper allocation of expenses. The PI is responsible for Annual sub-recipient monitoring report completed by Jan 1 and kept on file for each sub-recipient. The PI isresponsible for notifying NSF of any changes requiring formal notification and contacting PO with questions about proposed changes or anticipated delays.

    The Director of Finance prepares a request to ACM$ (the Awardee Cash Management Service) for reimbursement of budgeted grant expenses incurred by Botanical Society of America. Reimbursements from drawdowns are recorded in QuickBooks and reconciled on at least a monthly basis. The cumulative amount of the drawdown can be tied back to an expense transaction report for the period that the drawdown is covering. A lookback at the cumulative expense history for the grant must be done to ensure any changes that were made through the cost transfer process with a direct effect on the sponsored program award have been adjusted in the ACM$. Any changes not yet accounted for will be included and documented in the drawdown transaction report. The Director of Finance prepares a request for approval to drawdown funds, with the necessary itemized documentation for the drawdown. The Executive Director approves the drawdown request and initials to record approval. The Director of Finance submits the request through the ACM$ system. After a drawdown is completed, the Executive Director certifies in the ACM$ that the drawdown was conducted in accordance with approval. The Director of Publications also has access to the ACM$ system and is trained to serve as a backup for this process, if needed.

  5. Finance Director also prepares and submits The National Science Foundation Program Income Worksheet and other financial reports as requested. Since our award is cash reimbursable, we have zero income to report.

  6. Reports on reimbursed expenses are submitted by Finance Director to PI on a monthly basis. The PI, with assistance from the Finance Director, will prepare a report comparing cumulative reimbursed expenses (actual costs) on the grant with the grant budget at least twice per year. PI updates Executive Director and Finance Director on any budget changes and vendor progress on agreements and contracts as the project moves forward. PI shares information related to expenditure monitoring with Co-PIs on the project on an as-needed basis.

  7. The PI is responsible for identifying and determining how best to re-allocate any cost overruns on sponsored accounts before grant close-out. The Finance Director will work with the PI to rectify any cost overruns using the “How to Correct for Unallowable Costs Mistakenly Charged to Sponsored Awards” instructions in the Grant Management: Expenditure Monitoring Policy.

  8. The Executive Director and Finance Director follow a process to reconcile and close out the fiscal year with the assistance from an outside accounting firm.  The Executive Director and Finance Director are responsible for monitoring the BSA’s total expenditure in Federal awards in each fiscal year in order to determine whether a single audit is required. A single audit will be conducted on those years when BSA has expended $750,000 or more total in Federal awards during the fiscal year (Oct 1- Sept 30).

 

VI. ANNUAL MEETING

As part of the BSA operations, they host and put on an annual botanical conference which is where the bulk of the awards sponsored by the BSA are given out. This conference is at a new site each year.

Johanne Stogran, a BSA employee in Ohio, is our dedicated meeting administrator and coordinates the meeting activities year round.

The conference is held in July/August of each year and the BSA collects income from registration fees, sponsorships, advertising, and exhibitor booth rentals. Expenses include site selection expenses, registration & housing costs, promotion, field trip costs, honoraria, administration, etc.

There is a separate bank account that Johanne maintains at Bank One for all the Annual meeting collection of income and expense payments. Johanne maintains all the accounting activity in the master company online Quicbkooks file. The monthly bank statement and all bank correspondence are mailed directly to the BSA main office in St. Louis and the bank statement and cancelled checks are reviewed and reconciled there.

An additional $3 million of liability insurance was taken out with Traveller’s to cover this event. This will be paid annually along with our existing liability policy, but the cost is directly allocated to this event.

 

VII. SECTIONS & SPECIAL FUND ACCOUNTS

SECTIONS

As part of being a general member of the BSA, there are special interest groups (i.e. ecology, paleobotany, etc) that each member can join (called Sections); some of these Sections require an additional fee be paid up front and these monies are allocated towards a specific cash fund for that section (although no separate bank accounts are kept). These funds are discretionary & to be used by the Sections as their bylaws allow – for association dues, awards and Annual Meeting related expenses.

In addition to monies they raise through dues, the sections are also allocated an annual sum (called an Allotment) that they can also spend in accordance with their bylaws.

Each section has both a Cash account (from dues raised and specific donations to that fund) and an Allotment account. Expenses for the sections are first paid out of the Allotment accounts and then out of the Cash account. Since no Sections are allowed to end the fiscal year in the red, any over spending of the Allotment account is covered by a transfer from the Cash account of each specific section.

 

Allotment Allocation

To continue placing an emphasis on the annual meeting and to provide active Sections with more resources to support their activities, the Executive Council instilled a new method of allocation. The Allotment amounts used to be a fixed $700 per year per section but have been restructured to be in increments of $1,150 and $400, with each amount determined based on the Section’s activity at the last annual meeting.

$1,150 is allocated to disciplinary Sections organizing one or more full contributed paper sessions (approx 10-12 presentations). The remaining disciplinary and regional Sections shall be allocated $400. Since the activity of some Sections at the annual meeting is variable and dependent upon the presence of a co-convening society, the allocation may vary from year to year. In an effort to keep funding and participation synchronous, in those years when a co-convening society (e.g. but not limited to, Association for Tropical Biology, American Bryological and Lichenological Society, Phycological Society of America) meets with the BSA the allocation for the affiliated Section will be $1,150 for that fiscal year. If the co-convening society does not meet with the BSA in the following year, the allocation to the appropriate affiliated Section will return to the lower level. The Treasurer will notify sections of the their allocational status and available funds.

Based on BSA board discretion, the Allotment funds may either be carried over to use in future years or any unused funds are then taken back.

If an allotment is unused for two years, the funds will revert to the BSA, and the annual allocation will cease until the Section petitions the BSA Treasurer for an allocation by presenting a proposed activity and budget (invited speaker, social, symposium, etc.) for fund use. Allocational funds will not be transferred to any other sectional accounts or societies.

Use of Allotments

These funds are administered by the BSA Treasurer in accordance with policies established by the BSA Council and Executive Committee. Direct payments of awards and honoraria are made to the recipients. Officers of the Section or chairs of the award committees must provide the name of the award recipients, name and address of the awardee to the Treasurer prior to the 5pm on the day of the BSA banquet for the awardee to receive their award at that time. Expenses may be billed directly to the Treasurer with prior notification by a Section officer. All other expenditures are handled as reimbursements supported by receipts. All payments to non-society members should be submitted by a sectional officer.

For accounting purposes, these monies are never given directly to the Sections. Dues and donations are accounted for as part of the normal dues collection process and reported in the financial statements. Section expenses are submitted to the BSA office and paid from the general operating account.

Separate accounting is done outside of the online Quickbooks accounting for the BSA; a separate (not online) Quickbooks file is maintained to track the running balances of the various Section and Special Fundraising funds. Reporting is done to the Sections on a quarterly or as requested basis.

SPECIAL ACCOUNTS

Special fundraising & award accounts – there are specific fundraising & award funds that have been setup through the years and they provide scholarships, awards and other benefits to both members and non-members (see attached list). Most of these awards are given out at the Annual Meeting in August.

The FAC has voted that both the Section and Special accounts (excluding Allotment accounts) that have a minimum average balance of $1,000 or greater during the year will be allocated their pro-rata share of any investment increases or decreases that occur during the year, including both realized and unrealized gains.

See the attached information from the web site with descriptions of each Special Interest Fund.

The following Special funds have specific directed donations that need tracking each year:

BSA Unrestricted Funds

BSA Endowment Funds

BSA Educational Funds

BSA Botanical Friends Fund

BSA PlantingScience Fund

Vernon I Cheadle Fund

Michael Cichan Fund

Conant Travel Fund

Isabel Cookson Fund

Leasure K. Darbaker Fund

a) They receive a dedicated donation each year from Mellon Bank

Katherine Esau Fund

Donald Kaplan Memorial Fund

John S. Karling Fund

a) Check the budget to see if any of the awards given were directed to come specifically from the Karling fund.
b) The Karling fund sells T-shirts & merchandise at the Annual Meeting. Historically, both the costs (from AJL Merchandising) & the proceeds are posted to the Karling fund. This changed in Yr 2003 as the BSA office sells the remaining t-shirts and sales were poor, so evaluate annually before affecting the Karling accounts.

Margaret Menzel Fund

Maynard Moseley Fund

James M. and Esther N. Schopf Fund

Winfried and Reneta Remy Fund

a) Pat Gensel, BSA Past President, has allocated the full royalty proceeds from her book, “Plants Invade the Land” to the Remy & Remy fund. Various royalty payments are received during the year from Columbia University

Aaron J. Sharp Fund

Thorhaug Fund

Grady L. Webster Fund

Wilson Fund