Wednesday, March 14, 2018

Budget ball of confusion



The Pacifica Finance Committee met last night (March 13, 2018) to discuss sundry financial problems. The current list would make Rapunzel's coif look like a crewcut, so the assembled phone'sters more or less concentrated on revisiting the abominable audit atrocity. As these powwows go, there was eventually a topic drifting which the long simmering battle of the apps surfaced briefly. You know the one: Great Plains vs Quicken. As is the case with so many Pacifica problems, this one owes much to procrastination.

Here's yesterday's pot luck slop as sampled by the ever inquiring Indigopirate: 
__________$$$__________ 

CFO Agarwal reports that they are very very very busy. The FY 2016 Audit is very very complicated, and includes extremely complicated and difficult preparation of Retirement Plans / Pension Plans, for which they have not made all payments/contributions for the last two years and for which they are out of compliance for the last two years.

Also, their third party administrator resigned several months ago and has not been replaced. Agarwal further states that the KPFK arbitration case ‘did not go well’ and this presents further complications. Since there is no third party administrator they are unable to cut checks from these accounts/plans… but the monies, he emphasizes are safe.

They are now at the point where they should be beginning the FY 2017 Audit, but are unable.

The Great Plains accounting software maintenance contract has expired. If the system were to crash, all accounting would come to a halt. Unable to upgrade at present because they can’t find the time.

Too busy. Too many complications. Busy busy busy. Everything is very complicated and there are many things to file and it’s all very complicated.

Busy busy busy.

The CFO has however submitted plans to get everything up to date by March 2019.

He says it will require ~$500,000. Give or take. More or less.

If the building they presently occupy for their offices and which is for sale is sold they will then have to relocate and this will further complicate things further… also further… they are very busy.

Agarwal quickly notes, almost as if in passing, that he Is not involved with loans re ESRT – but that he has raised concerns. In his experience he has never seen a lender approve a loan when the organization’s audits were so late and out of date as are Pacifica’s

In Q&A…
Agarwal is urged to spend whatever it takes to complete audits in order to secure CPB funding. He agrees, but says the bottlenecks are so numerous, and that they are in crisis mode, and that there are two stations with no business managers, eg, KPFK is so swamped, it’s impossible to move faster. Thus, he argues, his long range planning to provide a road map forward, but that additional resources are necessary. The National Office has to spend a great deal of time cleaning up and preparing numbers from the local stations.

He is asked about his communication with the local stations. He says there is constant communication, and the sends timely reminders, that the problem is that the staff at the local level is so busy it can’t prepare and present things in a timely manner. That, he says, is where the problem is… that everyone is getting lost trying to figure out how to put the information together, that they’re in a vicious cycle of delay and can’t get out of it.

Question is posed as to whether special fund raising is desirable and necessary. Agarwal says they have a restricted grant to help with the FY 2016 Audit.

Says current work is piling up as they attempt to deal with catching up with the backlog of the audits. Says ~$500,000 is necessary to catch up with old audits and get current.

Question is posed as to Great Plains being out of date. The upgrade is, says the CFO, very necessary, the cost has been partly paid, but they can’t spare the time necessary to upgrade. Two weeks would be necessary.

Statement/Question is posed as to the urgent necessity of raising the money necessary to deal with the loans sought – this is more urgent than long-term structural and programming questions. Agarwal notes that the most recent completed audit contained a Going Concern note indicating a lack of confidence as to Pacifica’s ability to survive another twelve months. He further notes that he is not in a position to speculate on where Pacifica might raise the necessary funds, but says there seem to be various thoughts and plans.

Agarwal repeats his $500,000 estimate.

Martin poses question as to whether or not there is confidence as to Pacifica’s backups. Agarwal says ‘not fully aware’ and will look into it.

The CFO’s report and Q&A end at this point.

10 comments:

  1. So what version of Microsoft Dynamics GP is Pacifica running? How far out of support are they?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Geoff Brady alert per Tony Bates
    Today from 3-5 PM, Geoff Brady producer host of In Other News is hosting a live on air debate on the topic of "Geoengineering" a subject which encompassess among other things, the sciences attributed to weather mamipulation.

    Here is a link to a flyer advertising the broadcast:
    https://www.wbai.org/upcomingprogram.php?upcomingid=3805

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. As many of you already know, Brady is a certifiable nut job. He brings lies and junk in as "thank you gifts", believes that reptilians from outer space roam among us and steal our auras, NASA's moon was a hologram, etc.

      He gives air time to any scam artist and agrees with anything they say, regardless of how outrageous it is. This fool does not belong an radio, much less on a Pacifica station.

      Delete
  3. He is giving voice to the voiceless, let the reptilians speak! (Keep your zapper handy)

    ReplyDelete
  4. On behalf of the reptilian community, we disassociate ourselves from Brady. Even for a mammal, he is just nuts. You know those implant killers don't work against our tech right? Any species who thinks zapping themselves is somehow positive is just nuts. Like we told Armstrong on the moon, just keep away from us. You mammals are crazy.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Highly suspect - Sam estimates 500K, repeatedly, every day that passes builds the number of tasks that need completion. Sam is quick to pay himself, unauthorized. Why not use that money to bring people in who are confident in their skill set. Sam needs to call A count Temps or another firm. Stop the excuses.

    ReplyDelete
  6. It's long past the time to bring in the forensic auditors....

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  7. I find it difficult if not impossible to judge whether Agarwal is simply not up to the job, whether the job is simply impossible within the constraints of budget, time, and Pacifica’s organization, or if there are other factors in play. My guess, only a guess, is that the job is stressful, and Agarwal isn’t up to it. I find the constant refrains as to being overwhelmed annoying, sad, and impossible to accept. If it’s that bad, you leave. Period. For the simple reason that if it’s that bad whatever you might do will make no difference. Then why put up with it unless you have no comparable or better employment options?

    So in a sense, pun intended, something doesn’t add up. I, too, find the long-running complaint that it’s simply impossible to secure competent help non-credible.

    ~ ‘indigo’

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Agarwal has made a lot of sense from time to time, but he really is up against the odds (literally). He's on my short list of why-do-they-put-up-with-it cast members.

      Has anything ever added up? Remember the Yellow Magnet duo—I believe they were paid royally, I know they contributed nothing.

      Delete
    2. I would say that at least from the perspective of an outsider things haven't added up in many years, perhaps decades. It's important to remember that those audits which have been performed are nothing more than a compilation of Pacifica’s internal numbers, not outside audits.

      It’s all trust, not trust-but-verify.

      Call me a cynical fucker, but I don’t trust.

      I agree with the observation, though, that they’re simply too small for outside authorities to bother with, and I also suspect that outside authorities are quite possibly sympathetic to Pacifica’s ‘mission’. Put that together, and they’ll continue until and unless they simply collapse.

      The political ‘mission’ is everything, after all, the ‘bourgeois’ art, education, and open public affairs discussion missions having been thrown overboard as trash long ago by these brave, noble, selfless political advocates. aa

      ~ ‘indigopirate’

      Delete