Finance

Committee Information: Annual Report

2007-2008 Annual Report

The Finance Committee members, in addition to the Chair, are Pierre Piche, Carter Scott, Matthew Nowakowski, Larry Guitard, Lucie Mercier-Gauthier and Martin Coutts.  Our committee has adopted an expanded mandate, but shorter title, the “Finance Committee”.  With approval of the CAUBO Board for broadening the scope of the committee’s mandate, and for expanding the committee’s membership, we welcomed three new members to our committee.  The following individuals joined us for our March 2008 meeting in sunny Saskatoon:  Lilian Scime, Deborah Collis, and Murray Griffith.  Essential support to our committee has been very capably carried out by George Dew, who is the ex-officio CAUBO staff representative.

In addition to the meeting in Saskatoon, the committee held face-to-face meetings at the June 2007 annual conference and in December 2007 in Ottawa.  A number of conference calls were also held during the year.

The primary focus for the current year has been development of revised terms of reference for the committee and identification of specific work-plan activities. The revised terms of reference can be found on the committee’s web-site. In accordance with the expanded mandate, activity of the committee will now be organized along the following thematic areas:

• CAUBO Financial Information Return
• Accounting Standards
• Research Accounting
• Financial Administration

At least two Finance Committee members will act as a sub-committee for each theme area, and new committee members will be recruited based on area of expertise/member preference.  Once the work plan for each of the four areas has been established, it is our intention to involve the regional committees in a more structured role, extending beyond that of CAUBO Return related activities.  This year, we have continued to build on the progress of recent years in utilizing regional groups to provide a forum for discussion of issues and feedback regarding regional concerns. The regional committees have been instrumental in terms of peer review, preparing material for and hosting FIUC (CAUBO Return) information sessions.   In addition to developing workshop materials, a meeting of the western regional group was held in November, an annual meeting was also hosted in Atlantic Canada in the fall, and Quebec held its first, and very successful, financial reporting workshop in February.   The Ontario group (COFO) is well established and has been meeting for a number of years.

In keeping with the new mandate, the following paragraphs provide a summary by theme area of our activities completed and underway.

CAUBO Financial Information

The winter issue of University Manager included the fourth publication of “Highlights of CAUBO Financial Information of Universities and Colleges” for 2005/06.  This issue included commentary from two universities regarding how CAUBO information is utilized for benchmarking.   The annual CAUBO return (2006/07) was released in mid-April, with all members having submitted their data.  With the cooperation of Herb O’Heron at AUCC, the information in “Beyond 20/20” table format is accessible to all CAUBO members.   In the coming months, we will pursue technological solutions for data validation and on-line completion of the report.

Accounting Standards

The committee provided a formal response (possibly a first for the committee) to the CICA Exposure Draft for Not-for-Profit Organizations.  Matthew Novakowski continues as a member of the CICA Not-for-Profit Organizations Advisory Committee, providing an important linkage between the two committees.  Martin Coutts is participating on a task force reviewing Public Sector Accounting Standards and implications for not-for-profit organizations consolidated as part of the government’s reporting entity:   this representation also provides valuable insight for the committee.  Pierre Piche worked with Martha Tory, Ernst and Young, to provide a pamphlet regarding section 3861 Financial Instruments and sample note disclosure.  Accounting Standards Board newsletters have been posted to the committee’s web-site.

Research

Prior to adoption of the Finance Committee’s expanded mandate, resolution of a number of research issues have been pursued with the assistance of an ad-hoc committee with representation from a number of research intensive universities.  Through the work of CAUBO, CFI requirements were amended to permit an element of “overhead” for in-house construction undertaken by university facilities management departments.  A meeting was held with CFI regarding the Indirect Cost funding requirements, in particular, allocation and reporting of funding.

Financial Administration

The committee has again organized a pre-conference session for this year’s annual conference with a variety of engaging topics including self-assessment of financial controls, business continuity planning and research accounting issues.  As well, the committee has sponsored two track sessions with topics that will be of interest to members.

The committee has been monitoring developments relating to the USA student loan requirements (FFELP) and has provided an update on this issue.  A representative has been appointed to the Canadian Payments Association, providing a linkage to changes (such as cheque standards) that might be initiated by that group.    Responses to questions posted through the DFO list-serve have been summarized, and over the coming months we will develop a mechanism for sharing those responses with members.

As I conclude my year as Chair of the Finance Committee, I would like to thank the staff of the CAUBO office for their support and keeping us organized.  With the hectic schedule and challenges of “day jobs” it’s difficult for committee volunteers to find the time to devote to CAUBO activities, so thanks to each of you for your contributions and support. A special thanks to two of our long-serving (roughly eight years) committee members, Pierre Piche, University of Toronto, and Carter Scott, University of Western Ontario. The quality of our discussions will suffer with the loss of their technical expertise, and the enthusiasm of spirited accounting issue debates will definitely wane !

Chair
Laura Kennedy , University of Saskatchewan

Members

Martin Coutts, University of Alberta

Larry Guitard, University of New Brunswick

Lucie Mercier-Gauthier, University of Ottawa

Matthew Nowakowski, Université de Montréal

Pierre Piché, University of Toronto

Carter Scott, The University of Western Ontario