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Date: 05 Nov 2008 22:31:50
From: samsloan
Subject: Sudden Death
Sevan Muradian reports over on the USCF Issues Forum that the
financials for the end of September 2008 show that the USCF has less
than $4,000 cash in the bank, has $116,000 in accounts payable, has
exhausted its entire line of credit and the only significant account
receivable is from Chess Cafe, who says that they are not going to
pay.

The weekly payroll of the USCF is about $15,000.

As a result, the Executive Board is discussing layoffs, something I
have been advocating for the past two years and is long overdue.

I have a strong opinion as to who should be laid off.

They are blaming these financial problems on the litigation that has
engulfed the USCF. However, that is not the cause.

Litigation is not the cause of the financial problems of the USCF.

The USCF lost $258,000 in real money in the 2007-2008 fiscal year.
Almost none of that was caused by litigation.

The USCF lost a similar amount in real money the previous year. That
was before the litigation even started.

The USCF lost $2 million during the 1999-2003 period. There was no
significant litigation during that period.

The cause of the financial problems facing the USCF is poor
management, not litigation.

Sam Sloan




 
Date: 06 Nov 2008 16:52:04
From: Ruud
Subject: Re: Sudden Death

"samsloan" <[email protected] > schreef in bericht
news:[email protected]...
> Sevan Muradian reports over on the USCF Issues Forum that the
> financials for the end of September 2008 show that the USCF has less
> than $4,000 cash in the bank, has $116,000 in accounts payable, has
> exhausted its entire line of credit and the only significant account
> receivable is from Chess Cafe, who says that they are not going to
> pay.
>
> The weekly payroll of the USCF is about $15,000.
>
> As a result, the Executive Board is discussing layoffs, something I
> have been advocating for the past two years and is long overdue.
>
> I have a strong opinion as to who should be laid off.
>
> They are blaming these financial problems on the litigation that has
> engulfed the USCF. However, that is not the cause.
>
> Litigation is not the cause of the financial problems of the USCF.
>
> The USCF lost $258,000 in real money in the 2007-2008 fiscal year.
> Almost none of that was caused by litigation.
>
> The USCF lost a similar amount in real money the previous year. That
> was before the litigation even started.
>
> The USCF lost $2 million during the 1999-2003 period. There was no
> significant litigation during that period.
>
> The cause of the financial problems facing the USCF is poor
> management, not litigation.
>
> Sam Sloan

Holy crap.
Sam Sloan must be the most boring poster of vaguely chess related
publications in the world.
I've been away for a few years, and reading his stuff, it's been a day.
Try chess politics plz (as if i'm the first to mention this).




 
Date: 06 Nov 2008 07:30:01
From: samsloan
Subject: Re: Sudden Death
Postby Sevan Muradian on Fri Oct 31, 2008 4:24 pm #117066

I've looked at the financials from Sept (delegates I would request
that you also request them from the office and peruse yourself) and
they are nothing short of concerning.

Cash in the operating account is less than $4k

A/P is $116k

We lost just under $8k for the US Open. Pan American's show an under
$30k loss. World Junior lost under $10k.

Line of credit is tapped fully (Sept finanicals shows $120k but I've
been told all $150k has been tapped). Bill Goichberg states that the
bank would extend the line of credit if requested but says that it
wouldn't be necessary. However the line of credit is secured by the
LMA which is not doing well.

Sept net loss was $122k and YTD loss is $255k

So we have near zero in the bank, $116k in payables and in Oct we will
have the costs for the World Youth to pay (estimated loss is $14.5k),
Olympiad costs (estimated loss of $14k though I think this number is
short), any professional fees, and standard operating costs such as
payroll, etc.

The LMA is being hit for a $50k loan to pay off the Profit Sharing
Plan. The LMA has around $400k, lost around $35k in investments, then
give $50k to the Profit Sharing Plan, leaves $315k in the LMA.

Now I'm looking at the approved budget and for example we budgeted for
Tournament Revenue in Sept - $77k but only $13k turned out to the be
the actual. There was a $60k line item in there for FIDE Tournaments
so I'm assuming this is for 'money raised' for the Olympiad? What
happened - did the money come in or not? Is it scheduled to come in
from a source?

In Oct for tournament revenue we have $40k almost split evenly by USCF
tournaments and FIDE, $57k in Nov solely USCF tournaments, and $10k
for Dec. I'm assuming the $87k in revenues for the last quarter in
USCF tournaments is from the National Youth Action in November and
K-12 in December and it's reflecting the flow of registrations.
National Youth Action shows 170 kids registered so far. K-12 shows 313
registered so far. Registration is $40 a pop so I'm not seeing where
the $87k is coming from. We are about 5 weeks away from the K-12. But
87k budget number is a stretch to get to. So I'm pretty sure we'll be
short here.

For membership reveneus we fell short by about $24k for the month but
we're ahead for the total year by about $6k.

So getting to Oct - we have $116k in payables, no credit line
currently but hopes that it can be extended, $4k in the operating
account. Our total revenues from the approved budget show about $257k
in revenues, with $322k in expenses.

Where's the money going to come from for the shortfall? LMA? GM
Benefits Money Market Acct? If we tap that we'll have zero by the end
of the year. Tapping the LMA will be tough because there are controls
on it. However the GM Benefits Money Market Acct doesn't have the
controls on it as far as I know (I could be wrong).

Anyone closer to the financials - if I've made errors please point
them out. Maybe I read the spreadsheets wrong.

Sevan A. Muradian, FIDE Arbiter
Illinois Delegate

Sevan Muradian

Posts: 946
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2005 7:27 pm
USCFId: 12596003


 
Date: 06 Nov 2008 01:17:59
From: Offramp
Subject: Re: Sudden Death
On Nov 6, 6:31 am, samsloan <[email protected] > wrote:
> Sevan Muradian reports over on the USCF Issues Forum that the
> financials for the end of September 2008 show that the USCF has less
> than $4,000 cash in the bank, has $116,000 in accounts payable, has
> exhausted its entire line of credit and the only significant account
> receivable is from Chess Cafe, who says that they are not going to
> pay.

But they also have $20,000,000 in Qing Dynasty Railway Share
Certificates and they own 4,000 laptops each of which have been valued
at $4,000 by the World International Independent Arbitraging and
Valuation Service for Antique Technology (WIIAAVST).