USCF REPORTS SURPLUS AFTER 11 MONTHS
The US Chess Federation financial report for April by Executive Director Frank Niro is now posted on the USCF website.
The report shows a gain for the month of $24,800, compared to a budgeted gain of $7,200. With only May remaining to close out the fiscal year, the Federation is now reporting a small surplus for 2002-2003 ($8,300). This is $56,100 ahead of the budgeted $47,800 loss for this period.
As the final month of May was budgeted for over $50,000 in profit, and sales at the National Elementary were unusually strong (about $100,000 compared to a budgeted $46,000 for concessions for the month), it seems very likely that there will be a gain for the fiscal year according to USCF's numbers. If confirmed by the auditors, this would be the first year that USCF has finished in the black since 1995-1996.
While the end of the federation's streak of consecutive yearly losses would be cause for celebration, we should keep in mind that several audited reports and post-audit corrections during the past six years have negatively altered the expectations of past Executive Directors. In 1997-1998 under ED Mike Cavallo, an apparent surplus of about $200,000 became a loss of $20,000 when the auditors disallowed the method of LMA accounting recommended by Finance Committee Chair Jim Pechac. In 2000-2001 under ED George DeFeis, a small profit was reported and the auditors actually confirmed a gain of $14,000, but there was actually a six-figure loss; it was later discovered that substantial accounts payable reports and other items negatively impacting the bottom line had not been submitted to the auditors.