Q. Regulations governing annual contributions to pension plans combined with low interest rates have caused clubs with defined benefit plans to face increasing annual payments to maintain or diminish their financial liabilities. How are clubs dealing with this? A. Over the last decade, clubs that offer
Q: How should a club structure financing of capital expenditures so that the long-term financial health is not threatened? A: Clubs strive to have their operations at least break even each year, before depreciation, thus eliminating the necessity of end of year assessments to cover operating deficits.
Q: How much of the board’s work should be shared with the membership? A: In an era of transparency, the question of how much of the board’s work should be shared with the membership becomes increasingly important. The board must carefully weigh the quest for transparency, the need for confidentiality and
Q What is the fiduciary role of the audit committee in a private clubs? A It is the audit committee’s job to assist the club’s board in fulfilling its oversight responsibilities by monitoring the integrity of the club’s financial accounting processes and systems of internal controls regarding
Q How important are separation of duties and strong internal controls in a club environment that does not handle cash and runs on a limited budget? A Occasionally you may hear about fraud at another club. You may even hear a remark that fraud cannot happen at
Mere mention of the IRS tends to trigger certain symptoms among club board members: sweaty palms, worried looks, and the overwhelming feeling that, though you’ve tried to do everything right, you still may have done something wrong. That’s O.K. It’s a natural reaction. But, contrary
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has been conducting a compliance project with respect to the reporting of investment income by the social clubs exempt from income tax under Section 501(c)(7) of the Internal Revenue Code (IRC). In its Fiscal Year 2011 Work Plan, the IRS’s
Clubs strive to be the best that they can be in providing services to their members. In this pursuit of perfection, club leadership is generally interested in not only what other well-run clubs do, but also in what would be described as “best practices.” Best
Not surprisingly, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) expects a tax-exempt club to remain in compliance with the requirements of Section 501(c)(7) of the Internal Revenue Code (IRC). But, surprisingly, certain clubs that secure tax-exempt status still operate in a manner inconsistent with the IRS’ requirements.