RE: [oasis-board-comment] Payments to Contractors 2006-2013 - Member Questions

["Jim Hughes (LCA)" <Jim.Hughes@microsoft.com>]

Patrick, although our oasis-board-comment list is intended to be one-way to the board (with any required dialogue or follow-up happens through other channels), I'm responding here so others may see that the board is addressing your concerns. I can affirm that I will place your comment on the agenda of the board of directors meeting to be held next week.

OASIS uses a Certified Professional Accounting firm to not only prepare our annual audits but also to prepare our Form 990s. Their view and management's view is that all the documents are correct, and OASIS Members can review both the Financial Statement and Auditor's Report for the correct information.

Regards,

Jim Hughes
Chair, OASIS Board of Directors

-----Original Message-----
From: Patrick Durusau [mailto:patrick@durusau.net] 
Sent: Friday, July 19, 2013 12:45 PM
To: oasis-board-comment@lists.oasis-open.org
Subject: [oasis-board-comment] Payments to Contractors 2006-2013 - Member Questions

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Greetings!

Several times over the last year I have heard that OASIS doesn't have funds for suggested additional benefits or services for members.

When Jim Hughes sent out the OASIS annual report this year, I decided to see what OASIS is spending its money on.

- From agm-2013-audit-report.pdf:

Consultants and Related Expenses

2012 $327,055

2011 $379,827

- From agm-2012-audit-report.pdf,

Consultants and Related Expenses

2010 $227,715*

- From agm-2011-audit-report.pdf,

Consultants and Related Expenses

2010 $285,574*

2009 $258,516

- From agm-2010-audit-report.pdf,

Consultants and Related Expenses

2008 201,005**

- From agm-2009-audit-report.pdf,

Consultants and Related Expenses

2008 228,888**

2007 410,860

- From agm-2007-audit-report.pdf,

2006 457,795

The asterisks (* and **) for years 2008 and 2010 indicate different amounts for consultants and related expenses in different annual reports.

Using the higher reported amounts, OASIS has spent *$2,348,515* on consultants from 2006-2013.

Viewing those amounts against the Form 990 reports, which OASIS is required to file with the US Internal Revenue Service:

Section B, Part VII of Form 990 reads:

"Complete this table for your five highest compensated independent contractors that received more than $100,000 of compensation from the organization Report compensation for the calendar year ending with or within the organization's tax year."

I won't bore you with a form by form enumeration but in summary, the table for Section B, Part VII for *Form 990 from 2008 - 2011 is blank.*

The 990 form changed for 2006, 2007 and the contractors should have been listed in an attached document. Online source I used for the 990s had some attachments but all I can say for sure is the independent contractor attachments did not appear on those copies.

I assume the Board can request to see the original 990 forms to satisfy itself with the correctness of Form 990s by OASIS.

In terms of a request to the Board, should further investigation by the Board reveal that one or more contractors have exceeded $100,000 as per Section B, Part VII of Form 990, I would request as follows:

1) OASIS staff be directed by the Board to amend its prior Form 990 filings to correctly reflect payments to independent contractors.

2) OASIS staff be directed by the Board to post and list its amended and future Form 990 filings on the OASIS website to enable public access to those documents.

The Board's fact finding should resolve the Form 990 issue.

On the contractor issue in general, going forward I request that the Board instruct OASIS staff to create a line item summary of every independent contractor billing, listing the contractor's name, the date of the billing, the activity covered by the billing and the amount of the billing for inclusion in the OASIS Open Financial Statements that are distributed to members every year.

The Form 990 issue is a question of whether the OASIS 990 forms were correctly filed for the years in question.

The contractor issue is a question of informing members of OASIS expenditures and activities.

As such a member, all I know now is that OASIS has spent $2,348,515 on contractors between 2006-2013. I must confess that I haven't seen an equivalent increase in member services or benefits.

As an "open" organization, members should have the information necessary to voice their opinions about spending on their behalf.

My "requests" are just a lay person's view of the situation based on incomplete information. I trust the Board will take appropriate action based on more complete information, consistent with the OASIS promise of openness, including perhaps greater contractor disclosure looking backwards.

Hope everyone is at the start of a great weekend!

Patrick
- --
Patrick Durusau
patrick@durusau.net
Technical Advisory Board, OASIS (TAB)
Former Chair, V1 - US TAG to JTC 1/SC 34 Convener, JTC 1/SC 34/WG 3 (Topic Maps) Editor, OpenDocument Format TC (OASIS), Project Editor ISO/IEC 26300 Co-Editor, ISO/IEC 13250-1, 13250-5 (Topic Maps)

Another Word For It (blog): http://tm.durusau.net
Homepage: http://www.durusau.net
Twitter: patrickDurusau
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