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Dairy, Food and Environmental Sanitation

Commentary From The Executive Director
December, 2001

One way to judge the financial health of an association is to look at the fund balance
By David W. Tharp, IAFP Executive Director

It is hard to believe that fall is now ending and winter begins — that means that the year 2001 now draws to a close. I believe we can look back on the year and proudly state that we had many successes. In this month’s column, I want to focus on three items — one from last year and two that affect next year. The items are the fiscal year financial results and deadlines for both the award nominations and abstract submissions. Let’s start with my favorite subject, finances.

As most everyone knows, my background is in accounting. I am a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) as is Lisa Hovey, our Assistant Director. We have both shed our duties and responsibilities of the day-to-day accounting needs of the Association, but we of course continue to oversee the accounting functions; Lisa more so than me. We share a strong belief that the financial health of IAFP is essential to be able to carry out the mission of the Association. IAFP has made outstanding progress over the years since I began in 1993. Lisa also comments on the financial growth she has witnessed since 1997.

One way to judge the financial health of an association is to look at the fund balance. We maintain three fund balances that combine to become the overall total IAFP fund balance. The three funds are the General Fund, the Restricted Fund and the Foundation Fund. The General Fund is the one fund that we are most concerned with.

The General Fund balance more or less shows what amount of cash would be left if the entity were forced to close down as of a certain date. As a guideline, an association’s general fund should hold 25% to 50% of one year’s budgeted revenue in the fund. For IAFP that amount is $300,000 or more. At IAFP, we are not that fortunate. In fact, our goal for more than eight years has been to move our General Fund balance to a positive position, meaning that we are in a negative fund balance position!

As I reported at the 88th Business Meeting in Minneapolis, we were faced with a number of financial challenges during the year, the biggest of which was lost income due to the downturn in the capital markets. Our mutual fund investments of course are considered very conservative,
but all types of investments were affected during 2001. Even withstanding those losses, we had a very successful year financially. We did not quite make it to where our General Fund balance was positive, but we are now only $1,500 away! For the fiscal year ending August 31, 2001, our operations added $15,000 to the General Fund. Much of this success can be directly attributed to a hugely successful Annual Meeting in Minneapolis. It is appropriate to mention that our IAFP 2001 sponsors and supporters also deserve credit for making the 88th Annual Meeting the most financially successful to date. Thank you!

I should also mention that at no time during the past eight plus years has the Association ever encountered a cash flow problem. We are financially strong; we are just not Hercules! I invite you to review the financial results shown on page 1052.

Now I had better move to our other topics for this month. The deadline for abstract submission is quickly approaching. Abstracts for IAFP 2002’s technical and poster sessions must be received at our office not later than January 7, 2002. Abstracts may be submitted Online (www. foodprotection.org), via E-mail (abstracts@foodprotection.org) or you can still mail abstracts to our office or send them via express delivery. We encourage your participation in IAFP 2002’s program in San Diego!

Another deadline is quickly approaching. That is the deadline for submitting award nominations. I bet that if you stopped to think about your colleagues, you could list at least four or five (probably more) who are deserving of one of the IAFP Awards. Please review page 1010 to learn more about the Association Awards and the nomination process. Nomination criteria are available at the IAFP Web site.

We should point out that there is a new Award this year titled the "International Leadership Award" which will recognize an individual for their dedication to the high ideals and objectives of IAFP. It also recognizes individuals for promotion of the mission of the Association in countries outside of the United States and Canada. With the addition of the Maurice Weber Laboratorian Award last year, we now have ten categories of Awards. Surely you can take time from your busy schedule to nominate a deserving colleague so that they receive the recognition they are entitled to.

With that, I will close for this month. All of us at the IAFP office hope that you are able to share the joys of the Holiday Season with your family, friends and loved ones. We wish you the best in what you do and wish you a prosperous New Year!

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