Finance and Governance

(Update 23/7/2017)

"Maintain a management structure which is works and we can be proud of."

MECM has various sources of funds including: gate donations, agistment of grazing stock, grants from government and philanthropic funds, business income and sale of merchandise.

Expenditure is mainly on pest plant and animal control, revegetation, and infrastructure for visitors,

Activities rely very much on time and effort of volunteers, school children, and different work groups.

A Landcare Facilitator manages some of the project delivery. Contractors are used for pest plant and animal control. MECM employs no staff.

Members of MECM and its stakeholders change over time, so there needs to be a paper trail which can be followed at a later stage.

Financial records:

Transactions are recorded in a format to enable budgeting, calculation of quarterly BAS liabilities, annual audit of accounts, and to satisfy any funding agreements. This is currently an excel spreadsheet.

They are reconciled and presented at the monthly MECM meetings.

Objectives:

To be a good partner to the groups we deal with.

To use a governance structure which is robust and sustainable at a community level.

To maintain financial records which comply with regulations, satisfy funders, and are in a useful format.

Strategy:

Develop rigorous reporting systems to comply with funding guidelines.

Appoint a "project manager" for each project, who will follow that project through from start to finish.

Use effective and simple "off the shelf" book keeping systems that are easy to use.

These systems show monthly transactions, bank reconciliations, BAS records, project budgets,

Actions:

Maintain a paper trail of activities.

Comply with relevant regulations and agreements.

Keep stakeholders informed of anything of relevance.

Ensure that MECM has enough committed and competent members.

Replace the spreadsheet with a simpler accounting package.