Subject: The Follow-up(1) of the Open Letter

From: Hongguang Zhou <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 15 Jan 1994 22:44:44 -0500 (EST)

From:	5th IFCSS Council Finance Committee
	Signed by Zhou Hongguang for FC

To:	5th IFCSS Council

Cc:	5th IFCSS SVC

Date:	1/15/94

RE:
		      The Follow-up (1) of the Open Letter

Dear IFCSS Council members & CSSs:

	The IFCSS Council Finance Committee is glad to have observed active 
responses from people with concerns. We believe, with positive attitude,
progress will be achieved toward the direction of professionalizing IFCSS, 
though it is painful.

	Considering the reactions from the reading of the Open Letter, the 
Finance Committee deems it necessary to provide the readers with some footnotes 
to reaffirm the purpose of the letter.

1. The purpose of the Open Letter is to ask accounting questions pertinent to
the accounting irregularities that resulted in the disappearance of some fund
in the Financial Statements of Fiscal Year 1992-93 and 1993-94 (1st Quarter).
It is limited in the material effect of fair presentation of the financial 
statements. It is not the intent of the Council Finance Committee to imply
any charge against anybody. Any interpretation, if not distortion, of
this nature is purely, as some reader pointed out early, self-imagination,
which is beyond the duty and control boundary of this Committee. The
Finance Committee believes that it is up to the treasurer of the IFCSS to
PROVE BEYOND REASONABLE DOUBTS.

2. The Finance Committee believes that it faithly executed its responsibilities
to carry out the resolution passed in the IFCSS Council's first conference. 
This resolution authorized this Committee to inspect the IFCSS's financial
operation and see to it that all the financial activities are in accord with
the rules and regulations. 

	The Open Letter, as a part of the inspection report, is a natural 
outcome  of the Committee's inspection and supervision. Reflecting the
reality and raising the questions are inherent in the Committee's routine
procedure and protected by the IFCSS's Consitution and the by-laws. The
Open Letter, wholely as a working  report to the Council and the public,
was never intended, nor did it ever pretend to be a conclusive evaluation
or the end summary of the IFCSS's financial activities. In fact, it is only
a beginning. With this in mind, the burden of proof is on the treasurer as
to how well those questions are chosen to be answered to. IT IS NEVER WRONG
TO ASK QUESTIONS.

3. IFCSS, as an organization of not pursuing profit and representing the 
interests of the Chinese students and scholars in the U.S.A., should and must
provide access to the public regarding its financial management. The public
has the right to be informed about how the fund is used, and the Finance
Committee takes the provision of public information as an obligation to the
PUBLIC'S RIGHT TO KNOW. 

4. The title of "Possible IFCSS Financial Scandal: Missing $0.23 Million" is 
not the original part of the Open Letter. Therefore, the Council Finance 
Committee is not responsible for any kind of effects such as speculation that 
may have been caused by it.

	To be responsible to the Council and the public, this Committee does
not approve any simple addition of the numbers shown in the Open Letter in that
it does not serve but defeat the auditing objective of clerical accuracy. Since
the numbers are interdependent to affect the debits and credits in
transactions, any inclination to add up these figures into a total or to do
calculation based upon the total would not reveal but mislead. This is why
the Committee raised three questions separately.

5. The fiscal year (FY) of IFCSS is from July 1 to June 30 each calender year. 
End Balance means any excess fund by the date of June 30. Any Beginning Fund 
Balance (the carryover from the remaining fund) starts as of July 1 of every
new fiscal year. Since IFCSS budget is also made based on the fiscal year, the 
same fiscal year applies to both the accounting and budgeting period. This 
hopefully answers the question of "as of what date."

	Finally, the IFCSS Council Finance Committee wishes to work closely 
with the IFCSS HQ and the CSS community in improvement of the IFCSS's
accounting and budget performance. At the same time, the Finance Committee,
once more, requires the treasurer of IFCSS to work out genuine
explanations and redo the financial statements for the sake of both IFCSS
and the community.