Little gems in the Notes

I suggest that the owners compare the financial statements that came with this year's AGM package with last year's statements to check for major differences.

Also, read through the notes looking for hidden clues that things have changed.

Compare these two notes from one condo corporation.

Year ending 2013
Note 5
No remuneration was paid to Directors during the year.

Year ending 2012
Note 6
No remuneration was paid to directors and officers during the year and they had no interest in any transactions of the Corporation.

Why the change?
This perked my curiosity. Changes like this are never made without a good reason. No owners picked up on this either before or during the AGM and the auditor did not bring this change to the owners' attention. So what changed?

For one thing, we found out that the board started paying the director, who was appointed to the secretary position, $300.00 for each owners' meeting to take the minutes.

What else?
What else does the auditor knows that the owners don't?

Remuneration of directors
Section 56 (2) of the Act
"A by-law relating to the remuneration of directors shall fix the remuneration and the period not exceeding three years for which it is to be paid."

The Act states that the directors cannot be paid for doing their director duties unless there is a by-law passed every three years by the owners approving such payments but there is nothing that says the corporation's officers can't be paid.

Who are the officers? It is possible they could include all the board members:

President:	Paid to chair meetings and/or be the building manager.
Secretary:	Paid to take the minutes.
Treasurer:	Paid to perform internal audit functions & prepare budget.
Director of Operations:	Keep an eye on the superintendents.
Chair of the social club:	Run the monthly bingos & annual BBQ.

Then lump all these payments into "Administration" and the owners may never catch on.

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