Fiscal Accountability Training Held on June 16
About 80 non-profit and state staff members were fortunate to attend at the Hawaii State Capitol Auditorium an informative presentation on “Fiscal Oversight and Accountability” by Ms.Magi York, Chief Executive Officer and Mr. Dan Miller, Chief Financial Officer, from Meliora Partners, Incorporated (MPI). Situated in Iowa, MPI represents a team of financial and management specialists that provides nationwide training and technical assistance (T/A) services to community action agencies and state Community Services Block Grants (CSBG) offices since 1999. As Mr.Miller mentioned, “MPI consultants have worked with more than 100 community action agencies and other nonprofits located in 35 states and ten federal regions.” Much of their work has been partially funded through Peer-to-Peer Crisis Prevention and Aversion Technical Assistance grants from the federal Office of Community Services.
The Department of Labor and Industrial Relations (DLIR) Director Darwin Ching welcomed and addressed attendees. The training focused primarily on how to conduct better fiscal oversight while being more accountable for government funds, clarifying non-profit staff and board of directors’ fiduciary and programmatic duties, and letting non-profit staff know what to expect and how to better prepare for program monitorings.
Topics ranged from Understanding Audits, Debt/Asset Ratio, and Financial Opinions; Reconciliation of Bank Accounts; Written Up-Dated Financial Procedures; Producing Useful Financial Statements to Make Sound Management Decisions; Strategic Plan that Supports Sustainable Employment That Can Also Be Used to Judge the Executive Director’s Performance; Responsibility and Fiduciary Duties of the Board of Directors; Staff Turnover, Staff Wages and Benefits; and Innovative Program Management.
Magi’s and Dan’s commanding knowledge and wealth of experience was evident in their dynamic presentation as they fielded questions from the attentive but appreciative audience. Everyone, whether a funder or contractor, left the training session excited with new knowledge that would improve their own monitoring efforts or program operations.
Thanks to Ms. Dawn Hirakawa, DLIR-OCS CSBG Administrator, who contacted MPI and was responsible for coordinating the successful training event. A copy of the Powerpoint presentation is available on the OCS website at www. hawaii.gov/labor/ocs/.
A video of the actual presentation filmed by Keith Nakano and Dan Young will be available shortly and posted on this website. To learn about Meliora (Latin adjective meaning “better”) Partners, Incorporated, contact Ms. York or Mr. Miller at the numbers listed below or visit their website at: http://www.meliorapartners.org/index.html
Magi York, Chief Executive Officer
magi@meliorapartners.org
cellular 641-691-0119
office 641-752-7830
Dan Miller, Chief Financial Officer
dan@meliorapartners.org
cellular 641-691-0033
