BARONIAL BYLAWS

11. Financial Policies and Procedures

In the event of a conflict between these policies and any policies, regulations, or laws of the Kingdom of Northshield, the Corporation, the State of Wisconsin or the United States, the policies, regulations and laws of the other entity take precedence.  It is the responsibility of the Seneschal and the Chancellor of the Exchequer to be aware of all legal requirements.  They retain the right to negate any decision made based on the legality of such decisions.    The override of any single policy contained here will only negate that policy; all others remain in effect.  This section of the Bylaws may be changed by the Financial Committee as needed, to comply with changes in regulations or laws of the Kingdom, the Corporation, the State, or the Country as needed.

A)  Committee Scope and Purpose

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1)  The Baronial Financial Committee will be comprised of the Greater Officers.

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2)  The purpose of the Baronial Financial Committee is to draft financial policy for review/approval by the Curia and other duties as described below.  ​

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3)  Decisions are made by a majority vote.  Members of the Financial Committee may designate a representative to attend Financial Committee meetings, with the exception of the Chancellor of the Exchequer.  The current Chancellor of the Exchequer must be in attendance and may not be represented by proxy.

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4) Notes will be taken during Financial Committee meetings and a written record of decisions will be reported at the next Curia meeting and published in Baronial media.

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5)  Meetings of the Financial Committee may be held concurrently with a Curia business meeting.

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​6) The Baronial Finance Committee shall meet in January to review/propose the coming year's budget to be approved by Curia and submitted with the Fourth Quarter/Domesday Exchequer Report to Kingdom.

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B)  General Policies

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1)  The signatories on the Baronial bank accounts are as defined by the Governing Documents of the SCA.  Those signatories are currently the Baronial Seneschal, Baronial Chancellor of the Exchequer and Kingdom Chancellor of the Exchequer.

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2)  One additional signatory from the Barony may be included.

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3)  Each Office as an annual budget of 50.00 to spend as necessary to complete the duties of the office.  Any other financial expenditure may be incorporated into the monthly business meetings.  Financial decisions on expenditures may be discussed at the business meeting with a vote taken at that time.  Final decision remains with the Curia.  Funds allocated for each Baronial Office not used within the fiscal year will revert to the Baronial General Fund unless specifically approved otherwise by the Curia.

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4)  Non-event related receipts are due to the Chancellor of the Exchequer no more than 30 days after the expenditure.  Exceptions are at the discretion of the Chancellor of the Exchequer only.

5)  There may be a damage deposit charged to individuals or outside groups for Baronial non-consumable equipment or regalia.  The amount of the deposit is at the discretion of the Chancellor of the Exchequer and Quartermaster.  However, it is recommended that any requested deposit be approximately equal to the replacement cost of the item(s).  The total deposit is forfeit if the item is lost or destroyed.  If the item can be repaired, the cost of the repair will be taken out of the deposit.

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C)  Special Purpose Funding

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1)  Special purpose funding must be from specific fundraising effort/project, clearly stating the purpose.

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2)  These funds must have a defined primary purpose and a backup secondary purpose.

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3)  The default secondary purpose for any special purpose fundraising is the Baronial General Fund, unless specified otherwise.

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4)  Any overage of special purpose funding goes to the secondary purpose.  Funds raised for special purposes cannot be reallocated to other general funding or purposes/projects without approval of the Curia.

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D)  Event Finances

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1)  Once an event proposal is approved by the Curia, an event budget must be submitted by the event steward within one month.  The budget must be approved by the Financial Committee before any expenditure can be made for the event, with the possible exception of site reservation deposits.

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2)  Events should be budgeted to break even or make a profit.  It is understood that circumstances may prevent an event from doing so, but the event should be initially planned with an eye toward fiscal responsibility.  It is the Event Steward's and the Feast Steward's responsibility to submit budgets for the Financial Committee for approval.  The budget does not need to be presented to the Curia for approval.

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3)  Once the budget is approved, the Event Steward and Feast Steward are responsible for maintaining same.  It is their responsibility to oversee and approve all expenditures related to the event.

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4)  Changes to the approved budget which result in either a ten percent or more increase in spending, or a ten percent or more decrease in projected revenue, must be approved by the Financial Committee.

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5)  Pre-registration for each event will be handled by the designated pre-registration coordinator.  Pre-registration for Merchants will be handled by the Merchant Steward.  All monies must be submitted to the Chancellor of the Exchequer within two weeks of receipt of the monies.  Pre-registration ends at least 10 days prior to the event.  All monies must be submitted to the Chancellor of the Exchequer prior to the Event.

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6)  The Chancellor of the Exchequer is responsible for preparing all Gate items prior to the event.

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7)  The Gate Coordinator is responsible for all monies collected at the event.  A tally of all funds must be made and correlated with all paperwork the day of the event.  All funds must be countersigned by a second member of the Barony and given to the Chancellor the Exchequer, or a designated officer, the day of the event.

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8)  No entrance will be allowed to the event under the pretext of "The Check is in the Mail".  In this case, the person(s) will be required to pay at the door with name and personal information taken down and given to the Chancellor of the Exchequer to avoid duplicate payment.

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9)  No refunds will be issued on the day of the event.  An exception is at the discretion of the Chancellor of the Exchequer only.

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10)  The information in paragraph D, sections 8 and 9 above must be posted on all event-related communications, including but not limited to websites, flyers and advertisements.

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11)  No cash disbursements shall be removed or disbursed out of Gate Monies for any reason.

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12)  Event staff handling monies for admission to the event are deputies of the Chancellor of the Exchequer and must be members in good standing of the Society and 18 years or older.  The Gate Coordinator must be approved by the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Event Steward.  It is the responsibility of the Event Steward to verify membership of individuals handling monies.

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13)  Event related receipts are due to the Chancellor of the Exchequer no more than 30 days after the event.  Exceptions are at the discretion of the Chancellor of the Exchequer only.

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14) The reigning Northshield Crown and heirs will be granted admission to events and feasts held by the Barony at no cost to Them. Visiting royals from other kingdoms and principalities may be granted the same privilege, subject to Curia approval. Event stewards may elect to waive site fees for designated chamberlains, subject to Curia approval. All other requirements for admission will be observed.

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15) In recognition for Their past service to the Barony, previous bearers of the Baronial Coronet will be granted admission to the Baronial Boar's Head event at no cost to Them. all other requirements for admission will be observed.

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16) Members of the non-SCA media attending events held by the Barony for the purpose of reporting on the Society will be granted admission at no cost to them. All other requirements for admission will be observed.

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E)  Procedures for Uncashed Checks

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1)  This policy covers any check that is left outstanding for more than 180 days unless otherwise specified.  Special circumstances would include such items as site deposits.

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2)  When a check becomes outstanding for 5 months, the Chancellor o the Exchequer's office will send a letter to the person to whom the check was issued if possible.  This letter will include the information that our records indicated that a check is still outstanding on our books, giving check number, amounts, date issued and reason.  This letter will also give a specific amount of time for the payee to respond either by letter of by cashing the check.  This time frame is to correspond with the check's six-month anniversary of issuance.

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3)  If after the specified time as elapsed and the check remains uncashed, the check will be voided and funds returned to the checking account.

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4)  A "Thank you for your donation to our Barony" card will be sent to the payee if possible.

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F)  Procedures for Advance of Funds

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1)  Fund Advances must first be approved by the Baronial Financial Committee and then voted on by the Curia for both the item and the amount allowed to be spent.

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2)  Funds will be issued by check with the appropriate form completed and signed by the Seneschal at the time.

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3)  Items are to be purchased within 14 days of the receipt of funds.

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4)  A receipt plus any remaining funds are to be returned to the Chancellor of the Exchequer in person and reconciled with 30 days of issuance of funds.  No reconciliation will be done by mail.

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5)  Lost checks, failure to provide receipts, failure to provide balance of funds due or other non-compliance may result in individual no longer being able to obtain advances for purchases.