Division Operates in Background To Support APA’s Mission
• The American Psychiatric Association handles all membership activities.
• American Psychiatric Publishing Inc. (APPI) carries out the scientific, educational, and publishing activities of the affiliated group.
• The American Psychiatric Institute for Research and Education (APIRE) conducts all research work funded by government and private agencies.
• The American Psychiatric Foundation (APF) conducts fund-raising and grant-making activities.
• APAPAC (APA’s political action committee), established in 2001, raises donations and makes contributions to federal candidates and committees.
The Finance Department has 17 staff members, with an annual budget of $1.9 million. Three accountants are responsible for the accounting operations of each of the entities, ensuring compliance with federal tax requirements and government grant-reporting requirements, and supporting the year-end audit. They ensure that all transactions are properly coded to the correct entity, that intercompany transfers are documented and approved, and that the information in the general ledger system—which is used to prepare financial statements for the Board, finance oversight committees, and auditors—matches information in the subsystems.
The Association has four major components of its financial system—the general ledger system, from which the statements are prepared; the publishing subsystem, in which detailed information about each book transaction is maintained; the advertising subsystem; and the membership system. Each month the accounting staff ensures the information in the general ledger, or finance system, matches the information in the subsystems—a complex task to say the least!
Five staff handle disbursements—including payroll, vendor invoices, and travel reimbursements. Each year, staff prepare more than 6,500 payroll transactions and 11,000 other disbursements. Requests for vendor checks and travel reimbursements are prepared and approved within the department. They are then sent to the disbursements staff, who verify that the request is consistent with the Association’s policies. The department is committed to mailing out checks within 15 calendar days from receipt of the request.
Three staff are responsible for the budget, cash, and investment-management activities of all five entities. The budget process starts in March with the first Finance and Budget Committee meeting. A budget call goes out to staff in May or June, with information regarding budgetary limitations, inflationary factors, and so on. Budgets are submitted by the departments in July, and the budget staff analyzes and prepares several perspectives for the executive staff. Inevitably, there is a gap between the revenue forecasts and the spending requests for the coming year. The budget staff, working with the budget coordinators in each division, work toward a proposed and balanced budget for the executive team’s review. Once approved by the medical director, the budget goes to the Finance and Budget Committee at its fall meeting.
In addition to the budget, staff monitor the Association’s investment portfolio, working closely with our investment advisors and the Investment Oversight Committee to ensure a balance between protecting the principal of the portfolio and experiencing a positive return.
Finally, the budget team is responsible for monitoring the cash balance of the Association. This involves knowing how much is in each of the 11 checking accounts daily, forecasting what checks will clear the accounts that day, and transferring funds between accounts as is appropriate to ensure that no accounts are overdrawn.
The finance department has six staff who oversee cash receipts—three of these staff are integrated into the Membership Department and are responsible for ensuring that dues for 28,000 members are allocated to the correct member and for responding to member billing inquiries; three support the cash receipts for all other areas (publishing, annual meetings, advertising revenue, and mailing-list sales).
Payments for advertising, annual meeting registrations, and member dues are sent to a post-office box—which is a “lockbox” managed by our bank. Funds are deposited into one of the Association’s 11 checking accounts, and staff are responsible for ensuring the detailed information from the bank matches the bank statements and is properly recorded into the financial system.
The finance department, in conjunction with staff members of the subsidiaries, is responsible for ensuring that the financial information is well documented, controlled, and accessible for the external auditors each year. The auditors perform a consolidated audit of APA, with individual audits for APPI, APIRE, APF, and APAPAC. In addition, staff support the audit required by the government for its awards audits of the employee benefit plans and prepares tax returns for all entities. In 1999 the auditor’s letter to management contained 44 “findings” (instances of internal-control weaknesses); in 2002 there were no internal-control weaknesses and only two unresolved recommendations and one new recommendation.
Contracts Department
The Contracts Department, with one staff person and a budget of approximately $100,000, is responsible for implementing policies and procedures related to procurement and contracting and ensuring that contractual terms and conditions (both with organizations and individuals) are consistent with internal policies and are negotiated to protect the business and financial interests of the Association. In addition, the department establishes policy for major procurement activities, prepares solicitations for outside vendor consideration, and manages the American Express corporate credit card program. The Association has 37 vendors of $100,000 or more and approximately 145 contract agreements.
Administrative Services
The Office of Administrative Services, under the direction of Terry Hilmer, consists of seven staff members with an annual budget of $600,000. It is responsible for all space-related functions—including maintenance and repairs, security, safety, parking, mailroom, and printing services. This office is the primary liaison with building management for day-to-day coordination of services. In addition, staff in this office coordinate and monitor the Association’s insurance policies and telecommunication requirements, office-supplies purchasing, and furniture and equipment maintenance.
Administrative Services staff also are responsible for meeting-room reservations and setup, and ordering and serving meals for more than 2,000 meetings a year in the Association’s conference rooms.
In the course of a year the department purchases 1,700 cases (two tractor-trailer loads) of copy/printing paper. A portion of this paper is used to produce approximately 5 million pages of printed matter in the print shop.
Each month the mailroom sends out an average of 15,000 letters and 550 packages and receives and delivers an average of 1,000 parcels and 16,000 pieces.
Although operating largely behind the scenes, the staff in the departments of Finance, Contracts, and Administrative Services manage the logistics, finances, and business relationships that enable the other, more visible areas of the Association to do what they do best—support our members.
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