Platform of Marielle Mercado: Candidate for Vice President, Finance Department The Finance department is a very crucial aspect

of the organization. Without money, how can the organization function? While money cannot buy everything, we have to admit that it makes the organization go round. The department has been very effective, manageable and PM friendly. However, as the organization is approaching its 10th year, bigger and better projects should be expected. With that, the department would have to double its efforts to keep the organization running and not draining. We are not that exclusive, hop in. While the department can effectively run with only the VP and the AVP, I believe that it would be more effective if we add members in the department. This year, I propose to open the department to about 35 Finance Officers which will serve as the working arm of the department because it is inefficient and difficult for two people alone to handle the departments projects. There will be a clear distinction between the roles of the VP, AVP and the FOs. The VP, besides overseeing all actions and endeavors of the department will be responsible for all OSA-ACOMM matters, final budget approval and monitoring of the organizations funds. The AVP will supervise the FOs depending on which projects or events will be assigned to them and will head the departments projects. The FOs, aside from being the working arm of the department, will also be distributed to different projects from other departments. They will handle all finance-related concerns of the projects. They shall be present during team meetings and coordinate with the PMs regarding financial matters. Proper finance training shall also be given, not only to FOs but also to PMs, through Budgeting/Finance seminars, which will be incorporated in the PMAT. They will also be given Finance Guidelines for better understanding of the departments tasks and procedures. Towards a healthier relationship with the PMs Financial procedures The Finance departments Code of Financial procedures has been proven effective and PM friendly. However, I believe that it could still be improved in some ways. Instead of submitting the BPF x number of days before the event, PMs can submit it anytime. Budget will be released one (1) week after the approval of the form. Financial bonds While the financial bond does not seem very effective in terms of getting strict compliance from the PMS, I think it has a potential, thus I would suggest keeping it. However, I would like to increase the penalty to P50 instead of P20. That way, PMs might comply more to the rules because the loss they would incur is higher. Other than the things mentioned, the Code of Financial Procedures will still be followed. Finalize the budget The VP-Finance shall coordinate with the EB during summer regarding the estimated budget per project. Each project must be carefully evaluated. It might also be more practical to remove some of the projects those that are too costly to produce, overlaps vision with the other projects, and is not at all necessary. We might be having too many projects, thus, spreading ourselves too thin. The same thing applies to the freebies we give during RecWeek. Some items such as the stickers and PVC tags could be removed. Instead, we could limit it to about 2 freebies.

Furthermore, at the start of the semester, after the PMs have been identified, the department will also coordinate with them regarding the budget. A database which consists of the budget per project will also be made available. The List The list shall include contacts of different suppliers (shirt printing, etc.) for easier access. We could also coordinate with other departments to create a consolidated list. Sponsors contact details, potential talents for outsourcing (e.g. hosts, photographers) and ACOMMs services could also be included. Lets be transparent To ensure transparency within the organization, monthly budget reports shall be implemented. However, financial matters of the organization should still be kept confidential. Thus, the reports will be limited only within the EB and the AVP-Finance. Business plans This year, the department plans to better market the organizations services and accommodate more non pro-bono clients. The VP-Finance will have to discuss and finalize the system and also the list of services and prices that ACOMM could offer to other clients or organizations. Other income-generating projects shall include: T-shirt sale, garage sale and movie-screening.