The Finance Committee leads the Board’s participation in oversight and review of the State Bar’s budget preparation.
Charter
The Finance Committee shall develop and lead the Board’s participation in all State Bar budget preparation. The Finance Committee shall:
Budget Process: Consult with the chair, vice-chair, and executive director on the detailed design of the State Bar’s budget development cycle and work with the executive director and chief financial officer to vet the proposed budget, as well as any midyear updates or proposed changes to the budget, before presentation and recommendation to the Board of Trustees. Recommend to the Board any amendment to the adopted budget. The Board of Trustees adopts the final budget annually in February and authorizes the Finance Committee to preliminarily approve the budget in December, which provides staff with authorization to spend for the period beginning February 1 to the date of the February Board of Trustees meeting. This authorization is limited to average monthly expenditures for the prior year in addition to expenditures previously approved by the Board of Trustees.
Financial Review: Ensure that the financials are thoroughly examined on a quarterly basis; develop a functional and detailed understanding of the State Bar’s revenue streams, expenditures, and overall fiscal conditions and issues in order to be engaged proactively in the budget preparation, development, and planning process on an ongoing basis; monitor the State Bar’s performance relative to the budget; and ensure that appropriate actions are taken to address any material variances to the budget.
Oversight: Ensure as part of the annual operational planning/budget preparation process that an office-by-office fiscal review is performed to evaluate budget projections.
Workplan: Develop and adopt a Finance Committee workplan for approval by the Board Executive Committee. For each Finance Committee project, the workplan shall include a description of the project; the Strategic Plan goal(s), strategy, and implementation step(s) that are furthered by the project; and an estimated timeline for completion and presentation to the Finance Committee and/or the Board.
Perform such other functions relevant to the Finance Committee’s subject area as the Board of Trustees may assign from time to time.
