Wikimedia Eesti/Financial policy

The financial policy of Wikimedia Eesti was unanimously adopted at a meeting of the management of the non-profit organisation (NPO) Wikimedia Eesti on 21 January 2014. The policy was compiled on the basis of corresponding documents of other Wikimedia branch organisations (primarily Wikimedia UK and Wikimedia DC), Estonian non-profit organisations and companies, Estonian labour law and the rules, requirements and recommendations of certain subsidiaries of the Wikimedia Foundation (primarily Grant Advisory Committee and Funds Dissemination Committee).

This is an English translation of the documentThe Estonian original can be found on the Estonian homepage of Wikimedia Eesti.

1. Goal of financial policy

The goal of the financial policy is to ensure the conformity of the financial operations of the NPO Wikimedia Eesti to relevant international and national laws as well as procedures generally accepted for financial operations of non-profit organisations and the Wikimedia Foundation.

2. General principles of financial operations

The general principles of the financial policy of Wikimedia Eesti are:

1. Protecting the assets of Wikimedia Eesti against losses, damages or possible fraud.
2. Using the assets of Wikimedia Eesti to achieve the goals of the organisation in the most efficient way possible.
3. Assessing and managing risks concerning the assets of Wikimedia Eesti.
4. Establishing and applying control mechanisms in response to risks concerning the assets of Wikimedia Eesti.
5. Registering the financial operations of Wikimedia Eesti pursuant to international and national laws and procedures generally accepted in accounting.
6. Ensuring the clarity and transparency of the financial reporting of Wikimedia Eesti.
7. Distributing the rights and obligations related to the financial activities of Wikimedia Eesti to prevent a potentially excessive obligation load or consolidation of excessive power.

3. Planning financial operations

1. Wikimedia Eesti shall compile an annual budget for each financial year, conforming to the organisation's activity plan.
2. The budget plan of Wikimedia Eesti for the following year must be completed at least one month before the end of the financial year, when it shall be submitted for review to members of the organisation.
3. The management of Wikimedia Eesti shall approve the budget of the next financial year on the final day of the previous financial year at the latest.
4. The annual budget must be planned in balance or in surplus. Exceptions are possible in justified cases with the decision of the management.
5. All expenses provided in the annual budget must be covered with income.
6. The work and budgets of single projects must be planned so that they do not damage the organisation’s sustainability. If financing is unsure, it must be possible to organise the project on a smaller scale, to postpone it or to find alternative funding.

4. Income policy

1. The goal of Wikimedia Eesti is to diversify its income base to ensure the sustainability of the organisation.
2. When applying for support, allocations and grants, the conformity of the requirements of the financing sources to the principles of operation and the general and specific goals of projects and programmes of Wikimedia Eesti shall be taken as a basis.
3. All applications for support, allocations and grants that exceed 1,000 euros and contracts entered into upon their allocation must be communicated to all members of the organisation and the relevant documents must be made available to members of the organisation.
4. When receiving donations intended for a specific purpose, a donation contract is entered into with the donator which provides the requirements for using the donation, wherein all members of the organisation shall be informed of all donation contracts entered into and the relevant documents shall be made available to all members of the organisation.

5. Expense policy

1. Expenses exceeding 100 euros must be made on the basis of a management decision. The reasoning for the selection of the seller or service provider must also be documented in the form of comparative offers, current cooperation experience, documents confirming competence etc.
2. Management shall plan all expenses in the annual budget to the extent possible.
3. All expenses must be covered with expense documents (invoices, receipts, contracts etc.) or applications for the compensation of expenses.
4. The organisation shall perform the smallest number of cash transactions possible.
5. All acquisitions exceeding 639.14 euros shall be entered as fixed assets of Wikimedia Eesti and all members of the organisation shall be informed of the acquisition of fixed assets.
6. All members of the organisation must be informed of all transactions exceeding 1,000 euros, and documents regarding the expense must be made available to the members of the organisation. An exception is the salaries of employees, which can only be made public by mutual agreement, and transport costs, which shall not be separately provided.

6. Transactions with bank cards

1. The management of the NPO shall agree on starting and ending the use of debit and credit cards. The card holder(s) shall be designated with the decision of the management, who shall be responsible for forwarding information needed for use of the card to the card holder.
2. The card holder shall be responsible for the maintenance and purposeful use of the card.
3. The payment card may only be used to make transactions necessary to perform work tasks. Making private purchases with a debit or credit card of the NPO is prohibited. The card holder must compensate damage caused to the NPO through the non-purposeful use of the payment card and the violation, destruction or loss of the card at the fault of the card holder.
4. The card holder must not disclose the personal identification number (PIN) or passwords of a debit or credit card of the NPO to third parties. The card holder must not give a debit or credit card of the NPO to a third party or leave it unsupervised in a place where it may come into the possession of a third party.
5. The card holder undertakes to compensate all costs incurred upon the card's possession by a third party unless they can prove that this did not occur through their own fault.
6. The card holder shall submit to the management of the NPO or to the accountant at management's request the basic documents for all card transactions made during the month or a report of financial expenses together with basic documents by the fifth working day of the following month at the latest. The basic document must be formalised in conformity with the rules of formalising expense documents of the NPO.
7. In the case of a long-term business trip of the card holder, they shall submit an expense report for the debit or credit card of the NPO by the due date by e-mail to the address(es) of the management of the NPO or all members of management, and upon returning from the trip they shall append the basic documents of expenses to the report.
8. The conformity of the basic documents to the established requirements and the purposeful use of the card transactions made shall be verified by a member of the management of the NPO or the accountant at the former’s request.

7. Supervision mechanisms

1. At least two members of the management and the accountant must have access to the financial assets held in the bank accounts of Wikimedia Eesti.
2. The cash register shall be in the possession of one responsible member of the management.
3. Inventory of assets is performed with a relevant decision of the management and by a committee of at least three members, formed of members of the organisation for this specific purpose.
4. A revision committee shall supervise the legal use of the assets of Wikimedia Eesti and the activities of its structures, consisting of at least two members who are natural persons, appointed for this purpose at the general meeting and not members of the management of the organisation. Members of the revision committee have free access to all financial documents.
5. The accounting of Wikimedia Eesti shall be organised pursuant to national and international law, procedures generally accepted in accounting and the internal accounting rules of the organisation.

8. Reporting

1. Reporting related to grants, support and other funding must be completed by the due dates and in formats provided in the requirements of funding.
2. Reporting related to grants, support and other funding shall be approved by the management of Wikimedia Eesti with a relevant decision.
3. The plan of the annual report of the previous financial year of Wikimedia Eesti must be completed by the end of February of the following financial year at the latest.
4. The revision committee must be given at least two weeks to review the plan of the annual report before submitting it for approval to the general meeting of the organisation.
5. The annual report shall be approved by the general meeting of the NPO before the corresponding due date provided in the law.

Approved at the meeting of the management of the NPO Wikimedia Eesti on 21 January 2014.