How much do you know about the PSA? - Photographic Society of America

PSA Journal, Feb, 1998 by Pauline Sweezey

If you have been a member for some considerable time, chances are you know a lot about the services offered by the various divisions, what goes on at the annual Conference, what's in the PSA Journal and other highly visible aspects.

What about the behind-the-scenes, day-to-day operations? How much do you know about the role of PSA Headquarters in keeping PSA ticking? Probably not much.

Herewith, then, an inside look at the diverse tasks required of Headquarters staff. I hasten to add this is not a complete listing, but it should give members an idea of the demands and responsibilities faced during a typical year.

Membership

Let's start with membership, since that is the most important part of any organization.

Membership inquiries come in by mail, by telephone, by e-mail. Each inquiry must be answered individually with a general brochure on PSA and a membership application, and sometimes an accompanying letter to answer less usual questions about services or how dues can be paid.

We have added a new feature to the process: application via PSA's new home page on the Internet. That involves billing the prospective member in accordance with the membership category selected.

When an application with dues is received the new member is entered on the membership database. A membership card and certificate are prepared and sent out with a package of information to help the new member learn what PSA has to offer. Included in that package is the survey form all members received. When returned, the database is updated with the member's profile.

This is not complicated. It does, however, involve many small, individual steps which must be addressed on a daily basis. It is not possible to gain efficiency by accumulating requests and applications and working on them in a batch. That would result in an unacceptable delay in responding to new and potential members.

That only gets the member into the Society, of course. Beyond that there are dues renewal notices for our more than 6,000 members, reminder notices for those who have not renewed by two weeks after their expiration date, changes of address, changes in membership status, changes in division affiliation and so on.

Financial Operations

Financial operations are tied into essentially everything that is done. On membership, for instance, it means reconciling membership applications and renewals with dues received. There is much more, however.

Money comes in to Headquarters not just for dues, but as fees for division activities and program rentals, sales of items from the PSA Boutique, contributions to various funds and advertising income related to the PSA Journal.

On the other side, there is a steady stream of reimbursement requests from members, bills from vendors, charges in connection with service contracts, and the like.

To indicate very briefly what is involved:

Maintaining a cash position sheet on a daily basis.

Preparing daily deposits in checking and savings accounts.

Maintaining bank signature cards for each Society and PSA Chapter account.

Entering account numbers on bills before approving as Accounts Payable.

Dealing with over- and underpayments, and returned items.

Reconciling financial statements between HQ and divisions and committees.

Preparing end-of-month reports which include reconciliation of General Operating Fund (GOF), Savings, division savings, chapter and special accounts and the Society's asset position, including the investment portfolio.

A cross check is maintained for many financial items and even correspondence with two staff members handling incoming items. This goes far to preclude oversights.

The process was greatly improved two years ago when an outside accounting firm was hired to keep our books in order. This does not relieve HQ staff of the necessity of maintaining records. The data HQ compiles is delivered to the CPA as input for the accounting system. There are times when unusual situations arise which necessitate special consultation. Time-consuming, but well worth the effort given our audit reports.

Members on occasion may wonder about an apparent discrepancy. For instance, a division Treasurer may send in an expense in one month which is not received and processed by HQ until the next month. The division and HQ records will be different. HQ records take precedence, but staff can explain to the division what led to the discrepancy. Not complicated: just time consuming.

And, yes, there may be mis-entry of an item on occasion, something which will happen in any organization dealing with minutia. Those are corrected as soon as possible.

Right now the Society's budget for 1998-99 is being developed. Every division, every committee, every officer and the Operations Manager for Headquarters must submit a budget with expected income and expenditures by major category. In the past, delays in receiving this information created problems. That was resolved by a policy that nonresponse will result in the prior year's figures being used. Headquarters brings all submitted and estimated data together into one comprehensive document which is then analyzed by the Treasurer and fine tuned before submission to the Executive Committee for approval.