raya on sat 30 apr 05
We just began to sale in a gallery, which was rented by us (14 potters)
We take a commission of 10% from each potter, in addition to a monthly sum.
All of us are sharing the sale work in the gallery.
Our problem is, that only few of us are dealing with the bookkeeping work, which take a lot of time.
Does anybody have any experience with this and what are you doing in order to compensate
those who take more responsibilities?
Thank you for any advice.
Raya in Tel Aviv
John Britt on sat 30 apr 05
Raya,
They have a great coop in Yellow Springs, Ohio and they share the
responsibilities. They have meetings and duties. Everyone gets something
and they switch after a year. So decoration/design person/committee,
marketing/promotion committee, bookkeeping, cleaning, etc.
It is a challenge but it can be worked out.
Hope it helps,
John Britt
www.johnbrittpottery.com
John Rodgers on sun 1 may 05
An important principle in business is to do what you do best, farm out
the rest.
You are artists. Do art.
Bookkeepers do bookkeeping.
May the twain never meet.
Do what you do best. Art. Don't get bogged down over being unequally
yoked on the bookkeeping.. It will kill your group off. I have seen it
happen over and over again. With an independant bookkeeper you all will
be happier because if problems arise you can all point fingers equally
to the bookkeeper and not at each other, thus saving a lot of angst,
grief and animosity.
Collect your daily transactions as they occur in a box, at the end of
the day, tally them up, put them in an envelope, seal it, give it to the
book-keeper. From there it is his/her problem until time for a weekly or
monthly financial review. Have the book-keeper advise you on how to
manage accouts payable and accounts receivable, and go with the flow.
Makes life much easier in a group when such responsibilities are
centralized.
Good luck. I wish you all success.
John Rodgers
Chelsea, AL USA
raya wrote:
>We just began to sale in a gallery, which was rented by us (14 potters)
>We take a commission of 10% from each potter, in addition to a monthly sum.
>All of us are sharing the sale work in the gallery.
>Our problem is, that only few of us are dealing with the bookkeeping work, which take a lot of time.
>Does anybody have any experience with this and what are you doing in order to compensate
>those who take more responsibilities?
>Thank you for any advice.
>Raya in Tel Aviv
>
>______________________________________________________________________________
>Send postings to clayart@lsv.ceramics.org
>
>You may look at the archives for the list or change your subscription
>settings from http://www.ceramics.org/clayart/
>
>Moderator of the list is Mel Jacobson who may be reached at melpots@pclink.com.
>
>
>
>
Jeremy/Bonnie Hellman on sun 1 may 05
John,
I agree that with what you wrote. You've given good, basic advice, except
don't forget basic accounting controls.
At the very least have 2 people count money/receipts and write it down. Or
have different people count the money on each day. Later compare it to the
bookkeeper's records.
Each artist should also be responsible for reading the bookkeeper's reports
about sales and expenses. Don't let the bookkeeper sign checks. If the
bookkeeper writes checks, one artist/member should sign them, after
reviewing the invoice the check is paying.
Depending on the situation there may well be other controls or different
controls. This is not my specialty, but much of it is common sense. Think
about how an unscrupulous individual COULD steal, then set up procedures to
prevent this from happening as much as possible.
Trust is important-- you want a bookkeeper you can trust-- but don't make it
too easy to steal. In a small organization, there are not enough people
to have complete separation of financial duties, but there are a number of
controls that aren't onerous.
At the very least, have the bank statements sent directly to someone who
does not handle money and does not write checks.
Bonnie
----- Original Message -----
From: "John Rodgers"
To:
Sent: Sunday, May 01, 2005 12:39 PM
Subject: Re: A question concerning potter's cooperatinves
> An important principle in business is to do what you do best, farm out
> the rest.
>
> You are artists. Do art.
> Bookkeepers do bookkeeping.
> May the twain never meet.
>
> Do what you do best. Art. Don't get bogged down over being unequally
> yoked on the bookkeeping.. It will kill your group off. I have seen it
> happen over and over again. With an independant bookkeeper you all will
> be happier because if problems arise you can all point fingers equally
> to the bookkeeper and not at each other, thus saving a lot of angst,
> grief and animosity.
>
> Collect your daily transactions as they occur in a box, at the end of
> the day, tally them up, put them in an envelope, seal it, give it to the
> book-keeper. From there it is his/her problem until time for a weekly or
> monthly financial review. Have the book-keeper advise you on how to
> manage accouts payable and accounts receivable, and go with the flow.
> Makes life much easier in a group when such responsibilities are
> centralized.
>
> Good luck. I wish you all success.
>
> John Rodgers
> Chelsea, AL USA
>
>
>
> raya wrote:
>
>>We just began to sale in a gallery, which was rented by us (14 potters)
>>We take a commission of 10% from each potter, in addition to a monthly
>>sum.
>>All of us are sharing the sale work in the gallery.
>>Our problem is, that only few of us are dealing with the bookkeeping work,
>>which take a lot of time.
>>Does anybody have any experience with this and what are you doing in order
>>to compensate
>>those who take more responsibilities?
>>Thank you for any advice.
>>Raya in Tel Aviv
>>
>>______________________________________________________________________________
>>Send postings to clayart@lsv.ceramics.org
>>
>>You may look at the archives for the list or change your subscription
>>settings from http://www.ceramics.org/clayart/
>>
>>Moderator of the list is Mel Jacobson who may be reached at
>>melpots@pclink.com.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
> ______________________________________________________________________________
> Send postings to clayart@lsv.ceramics.org
>
> You may look at the archives for the list or change your subscription
> settings from http://www.ceramics.org/clayart/
>
> Moderator of the list is Mel Jacobson who may be reached at
> melpots@pclink.com.
Kruzewski on mon 2 may 05
Hi Raya,
I'm part of a very similar type of co-operative in Conwy, North Wales.
There are 21 potters selling there.
There is a committee of 7 dealing with the general running. We have a
general treasurer, a shop manager - who is in charge of running the
Gallery day to day - she gets the bulk of the work; a husband and wife
team who take the sales sheets every month and work out the sales,
commission and payment to the individual potters; I do the Galley duty
rota.Others handle maintenance, publicity etc.
The idea at the beginning was that everyone would take turns on the
committee and so take on a fair share of the work. Two years on I can
see this is never going to happen. There are some individuals who
volunteer and some who will never do more than the minimum - it's a fact
of life. What we failed to do was cover this when we set up.
Every member of the gallery, in addition to 30% commission and a monthly
rent, has to spend so many days a year as the sales person in the
gallery - it works out at once every 20 days. Currently the person who
does the sales sheets every month mans the gallery one day in 30, when
she collects the sales sheets. Our gallery manager takes a turn every 40
days. This is the only compensation they get for their work (and
although it keeps them happy it isn't really enough in my view), but I
would like to see this extended to all the jobs. We have considered
financial compensations and for one reason or another we have always
rejected them. I think that in many respects time is our most valuable
commodity. If those that run the co-op (and therefore give their time)
spend less time serving in the gallery, the other members of the co-op
have to spend more of their time there, so the work is distributed more
fairly and there would be more incentive to take on administrative roles.
The most important piece of advice I would give is to deal with this
issue now rather than wait until it becomes a problem.
Jacqui
North Wales
>We just began to sale in a gallery, which was rented by us (14 potters)
>We take a commission of 10% from each potter, in addition to a monthly sum.
>All of us are sharing the sale work in the gallery.
>Our problem is, that only few of us are dealing with the bookkeeping work, which take a lot of time.
>Does anybody have any experience with this and what are you doing in order to compensate
>those who take more responsibilities?
>
>
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