May 1 - October 31, 2008 CFC Deficit - Where from Here?

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  • May 1 - October 31, 2008 CFC Deficit - Where from Here?

    CFC President, David Lavin, in GL # 3, in the President’s Message, states in relation to the 2008-9 first 6 months financials:

    “ …we do have a paper loss of over $8,000 …“.

    One might quibble a bit and say he should have said slightly under $ 9000, since the deficit is actually $ 8,717.
    But the real issue is how will we reduce this deficit to zero in the second half of 2008-9 ?
    On the surface one could say the deficit of the first 6 months of 2007-8 was $ 16,626 ( ½ the annual loss ). So it appears the executive have shaved about $ 8,000 off the 6 month deficit. That would definitely be an improvement. But looking more deeply into the revenue and expenses figures shows :

    1. that most savings come from only 1 item being cut. We had a major decrease in expenditures with the cessation of the print Chess Canada magazine - $ 18,500 ( for 6 months ), and we have incurred to date no expenses directly related to the on-line Chess Canada ( on the “ Publications “ line ). [ It may be that the $ 3,000 the President mentions as going to the new “ interim editor “, Vincent Chow, is included in “ Salaries, Benefits and Staff Travel “, rather than being a direct on-line magazine expense ].

    2. that we are losing revenue. Roughly speaking, this 6 months we lost significant revenue:

    Shipping & Handling charges - $ 700
    Membership Fees - $ 2,000
    Publication Sales and Advert. - $ 2,400
    Donations - $ 4,000
    Canadian Open Surplus - $ 2,500
    Total Decrease - $ 11,600


    So as can be seen, if everything else in Expenses stayed relatively the same the one disappearance of the “ publications “ expense item, covers all the revenue loss, and gives approximately only $ 6,900 to lessen the anticipated first 6 months 2008-9 deficit.
    The deficit anticipated for first 6 months 2008-9 ( if all stayed the same ), was $ 16,625 ( ½ the annual 2007-8 deficit ). Taking off the $ 6,900 gained by no print publication would reduce the anticipated 6 month 2008-9 deficit to approx. $ 9,700.
    Now we can also reduce this anticipated deficit by other savings we made on other expenses ( since they all did not remain the same ):

    Building and Equipment Expenses - $ 2,000
    Office - $ 1,500
    Programs – International - $ 1,500
    Contributions to Chess Foundation - $ 700
    Total Savings - $ 5,700


    This would decrease the anticipated deficit to $ 4,000. And we show on the books, the first 6 months 2008-9 deficit as $ 8,700 ( the difference is due to increased staff expenses ). So the analysis above does show mainly where revenue dropped and expenses dropped.

    But where are we going to get increased revenue to offset this deficit for the second half of 2008-9?
    David Lavin in GL # 3 asks:

    “ Thirdly, we need to review revenues from membership and ratings. Can we realistically and reasonably raise any of these fees? “

    Will the membership stand for increases in either of these fees, after the print magazine has been cut, and they see little benefit in membership directly to them, other than the national rating system?

    And can we not expect that revenue from “ Sales of books, equipment and software “ will drop from the first half amount of $ 37,900, now that the book business has gone to Amazon.com and the equipment has gone to FEN? This makes our need for increased revenue in the second 6 months even more dramatic. Our commission arrangements will definitely generate much less than our business. The whole point of the sale of the retail business was to be able to cut staff hours, since the business was eating up ½ our staff time on some estimates . So does the CFC now need to look seriously at cutting staff, which have remained the same, in order to balance off this loss of revenue?

    Since there are no other sources of income, to reduce the deficit requires dramatically cutting expenses. There will hopefully be savings from the sale of the building. We will lose some of the expense “ Building and equipment expenses ( $ 7,600 ) “. But will we see “ Office “ expenses rise from $ 12,000 if we have to go to now renting office space, now that the building is sold? And how will CFC be able to afford introducing expenses back in under “ Publications “ with the new on-line Chess Canada?

    So, the staff cuts are the ones that stand out as being the only place to save sufficient money to eliminate the deficit. This will not be easy. I note that the expense “ Salaries, Benefits and Staff Travel “ have actually risen almost 20% in the first 6 months of 2008-9 ( from $ 34,000 to $ 40,300 ). This is unsustainable. We need cuts, not increases. And it may be questionable whether we can afford an on-line Chess Canada editor salary/contract. Maybe all CFC can afford is an enhanced CFC “ News “ website section, and a monthly CFC e-bulletin to all members highlighting Canadian events, maintained by the ED ( this was the preference of the Grassroots’ Campaign , in its “ Restructuring “ platform ).

    I realize this is a difficult program to have to follow, but I see no other areas where expenses can be reduced sufficiently to eliminate the second half deficit.

    So yes the situation has improved, but because so much of that improvement has been from the dropping of the print magazine, it has masked the great difficulty CFC has in trying to move forward to eliminating the second half 2008-9 deficit. Some tough decisions ahead.

    [ Note: I am not the greatest at reading financials, so please make corrections if I have muffed some stuff. ]
    Last edited by Bob Armstrong; Monday, 29th December, 2008, 07:15 AM.

  • #2
    Re: May 1 - October 31, 2008 CFC Deficit - Where from Here?

    Hi Bob,

    After all is said and done the "NEW" CFC Annual Proforma may look something like this:

    REVENUES

    47,000 Membership
    26,000 Rating Fees
    5,000 Interest from Foundation
    2,000 Commission from Sales
    80,000 Total Revenues

    EXPENSES

    50,000 Salaries and Benefits
    10,000 Web and E Magazine
    10,000 Fide
    7,000 Office
    77,000 Total Expenses

    3,000 PROFIT


    Please feel free to play with the numbers.

    Cheers
    Peter

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: May 1 - October 31, 2008 CFC Deficit - Where from Here?

      Originally posted by Peter Stockhausen View Post
      Hi Bob,

      After all is said and done the "NEW" CFC Annual Proforma may look something like this:


      3,000 PROFIT


      Please feel free to play with the numbers.

      Cheers
      Peter
      Problem Solved!!! So simple are projections. :)
      Gary Ruben
      CC - IA and SIM

      Comment


      • #4
        2009-10 CFC Financials Projection

        Hi Peter:

        Your simplified financial is very helpful for projection - thanks ( financial experience helps here ). Here are my comments:

        2009-10 CFC Financials ( A Projection )

        REVENUES ( roughly agreed to by Peter Stockhausen, David Lavin and Bob Armstrong )

        47,000 Membership
        26,000 Rating Fees
        5,000 Interest from Foundation
        5,000 Commission from Sales ( based on David Lavin’s estimate )
        83,000 Total Revenues

        EXPENSES ( Stockhausen Projection )

        50,000 Salaries and Benefits ( My comment: based on 2008-9, the yearly salaries would be $ 80,600. So Peter is projecting a 38% cut in staff salaries – a deep cut. This will definitely mean elimination of the part-time employee position. It also raises the question of whether CFC can get an ED with
        all the skills required for less than $ 50,000. )
        10,000 Web and E Magazine ( My comment: CFC is currently paying the interim editor of the on-line Chess Canada, Vincent Chow, $ 3,000, which is apparently very low for the technical web skills he brings to the website aspect of the e-zine. Can CFC really afford a qualified part-time editor to
        replace him? And what about the expense associated with paying for articles by contributors? And is Peter suggesting that this editor will also deal with all maintenance of the whole CFC website? And does this include ongoing costs of the website? I suspect Peter’s figure is somewhat lower than will be required for all this. The Grassroots' Campaign in their restructuring platform put forward an alternative to an on-line magazine: an enhanced “ Canadian News “ section of the existing CFC website, plus a CFC E-bulletin on highlights in Canadian chess news, free to all members. It would be maintained by the ED. The cost of this would be almost zero.
        10,000 Fide
        7,000 Office ( My comment: In the first 6 months of 2008-9, $ 7,600 was spent on building and EQUIPMENT – so even if the building will be gone, part of this item will continue as an expense. Office costs for 2008-9 , based
        on the first part of 2008-9 would be $ 24,000. And we will now have to
        include rent in office expense ( where previously it was effectively covered in building expenses ). So I fail to see how the CFC can cover office ( including rental ) and equipment with only the projected $ 7,000. )
        77,000 Total Expenses ( My comment: I believe this to be overly optimistic )

        6,000 PROFIT ( My comment: I think this will get eaten up in higher expenses )

        My Comment: I believe Peter is on the right track, despite my comments. We need to project what amount we will have for each expense, and then we will have to find a way to stay within that figure. I think the problem here is the on-line Chess Canada. If we can axe it, we may be able to project other somewhat more tolerable expense figures we can live with. I would be pleased to see the Executive projection of 2009-10 Expenses.

        Bob

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: May 1 - October 31, 2008 CFC Deficit - Where from Here?

          Originally posted by Peter Stockhausen View Post
          Hi Bob,

          After all is said and done the "NEW" CFC Annual Proforma may look something like this:

          REVENUES

          47,000 Membership
          26,000 Rating Fees
          5,000 Interest from Foundation
          2,000 Commission from Sales
          80,000 Total Revenues

          EXPENSES

          50,000 Salaries and Benefits
          10,000 Web and E Magazine
          10,000 Fide
          7,000 Office
          77,000 Total Expenses

          3,000 PROFIT


          Please feel free to play with the numbers.

          Cheers
          Peter
          Looks good to me... hopefully the CFC will bank this 3000 and save up for any unforeseen problems in the future :)

          BTW does this include changes in current fees? Still includes tournament memberships? Thanks for this summary Peter

          J.Lohner

          Comment

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