ASHI Annual Reports for 2012: Treasurer’s Report

by Alden E. Gibson February 1, 2013

Alden-Gibson.jpg Now that my tenure as ASHI treasurer is over and I will be leaving the Board of Directors, I’m pleased to have the opportunity to let you know it has been an honor and pleasure to serve you in this position for the last two years and to provide you with this past year’s treasurer’s report.

One of the most important financial decisions made in the past year by the ASHI and ASHI Education, Inc. (AEI) Boards was to make a change for the better by hiring a new accounting and auditing firm, Wolf and Company. We were aware that by making this change there would be some adjustments, and while we are not entirely pleased with the outcome, we are very pleased that we now can move forward with the most accurate starting point for 2013.

Two adjustments made during the audit process caused the current year loss to increase significantly. These adjustments were to the checking account balance and to membership revenue.

This year, as always, ASHI had a certified audit — a top-of-the-line audit. The auditors spent more than two weeks reviewing all documents and financial statements. It was the job of the new auditing firm to make adjustments as necessary and we fully expected them to do so.

Therefore, the Financial Committee believes we are well positioned for the future to be back in the black next year, especially with the increase in associate member dues that started with this fiscal year.

As an aside, as of December 31, even with the increase in dues, associate member renewals have not declined.

If revenues and expenses stay the same this year and the renewal numbers stay strong, there is no reason we should not have a comfortable surplus in 2013.

One other note: In order to receive an unqualified audit (in other words, a clean audit), which we received from Wolf and Company, our for-profit company, AEI (of which ASHI owns 100% of the stock), must be consolidated with ASHI into one audit.

We are pleased to report that AEI is doing quite well financially and we anticipate this to continue throughout 2013.

For example, The ASHI School, which is a division of AEI, had 24 students take the 120-hour live education course during the first quarter of the 2011-12 fiscal year (October – December). During the first quarter of this fiscal year, 2012-13, 47 students completed the course — a 100% increase.

The other part of AEI is the e-Learning Catalog, which is making a profit after only one full year in operation.

As previously stated, we did have a tough audit for 2012, but that’s exactly what the Financial Committee was looking for when it made a change in auditing firms. Nevertheless, we want to stress that with the slight operating loss and the adjustments, ASHI’s financial position remains strong. The reserves still stand at a quarter-million dollars, there is no cash flow problem and Dunn and Bradstreet rates us 1A.

 

 


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