Pub. 1 2011-2012 Issue 1

11 CASH How much A s t h e o r i g i n a l Tr e a s u r e r a n d current Board Chair of Providence Hall, I have had the opportunity to work with many great individuals in the foundingof our school, and in the creation and implementation of successful budgets and financial processes we now follow. Careful financial management enabling us to implement our school’s academic goals has long been a shared goal with all those on the Providence Board. Because of that consistent focus, our school has been recognized for its solid financials. It has also now afforded us the opportunity to complete a recent expansion that doubled the size of our school without needing the start-up funds we needed in the initial cre- ation of the school. We have been able to do somuchwith a relatively small amount, and I attribute that to the phenomenal staff working at the school and the wonderful parents with whom I work side by side to provide governance to the school. Chiefly, as a board, we are all there to provide strategic direction for our schools. This entails establishing the vision, mis- sion, core values and major goals of the school. In addition, the board has a sig- nificant role in the fiduciary oversight of the school. These items must be aligned, and it takes Board focus to ensure that alignment takes place. This is not a re- sponsibility that any of us as board mem- bers should take lightly, as its effects are felt throughout the entire organization. A well run school will have the ability to recruit qualified staff, provide training, and generally ensure that the school has the means necessary to provide a good education for its students. From a financial perspective, a poorly run school will suffer in that it will create an environment in which it will be difficult to recruit or retain quality employees. This will then lead to a loss in educational quality and subsequent loss of student en- rollment, which will lead to a loss of much needed funding. This creates a “death spiral” that is very difficult to overcome. A poorly run charter school is damaging not only to the students it serves, but to the surrounding community and to the charter movement in general. One of the ways our school helps to ensure proper management of the school is by creating clearly defined and distinct roles for each Board Member. My role as treasurer is to provide a certain level of financial expertise to the school. The one thing that I have done, is to have at each board meeting a time set aside for a comprehensive financial “state of the school” where we review the school’s financial statements (balance sheet and income statement). In addition, we have our business manager prepare a report detailing the last three months of income/ expense activity and compare it to bud- get. This accomplishes a few objectives: 1 Creates a culture where the finan- cial statements and related data are reviewed frequently enough that each board member is familiar with them; not only the content but the form. This allows each member of the board the ability to be able to ask direct questions to the principal and business manager. 2 Holds the principal and business manager accountable to board expectations and ensures that they are aware, from a financial perspective, of the goings-on of the school. It also helps the Board ensure that resources are be- ing used for the most pressing needs and goals of the school. 3 Ensures compliance with budget- ary expectations. Any significant deviation from expected amounts is clearly addressed before the board meet- ing in our “board packet” (prepared by the Principal and/or business manager). This enables the entire board the time required to digest the data and formulate appropriate responses and questions be- fore the actual board meeting. One thing to remember — board mem- bers should be careful about relying completely on the school’s principal and business manager. We as Board mem- bers have ultimate responsibility for governance of the school’s resources. By ensuring each of us is fiscally knowledge- able and encouraging an atmosphere of openness we can quickly drill down to the assessment of school priorities and ensure we have the budget aligned to support those priorities. Other important considerations for a fiscally sound school: • Ensure that adequate internal controls are in place. As a fiduciary, it is impera- tive that we are able to rely on the data being presented to us. • Don’t be afraid to use the audits of other charter schools as a comparison to how your financials stack up. Every audit of every charter school is public information. The audits for Utah char- ter schools for 2010 are all online. • If you have a business manager, make sure that you ask them the hard ques- tions. This is your school, and if they don’t know the answers to your ques- tions, find someone who does. Robb Enger is the President and Treasurer of the Providence Hall Board of Trustees. Robb is a CPA and the controller and assistant general manager for Landcar Insurance Services, a Larry H. Miller company. He can be reached at robbenger@gmail.com . do you have in the bank? By Robb Enger, Board of Trustees, President | Providence Hall