Monday, 9 July 2007

Not a good morning

I arrived at work about 8:30 to find our new Finance Officer already there. We wished each other “good morning” and I said I would see her shortly. About fifteen minutes later she came to see me and said she had spent the weekend thinking things through and had decided she did not want to accept the post at WCVS after all. She returned her keys and gave me an envelope with her resignation letter.

I asked what had made her take this decision and could we talk about it? She didn’t want to talk about it. And she wouldn’t reconsider. And she was sorry. And she was leaving. And she did.

To the back of her disappearing head, perhaps rather desperately, I said I'd leave things 24 hours in case she changed her mind.

This was not a good start to the week.

Back to Basis

Although nonplussed, I had to put this to the back of my mind and concentrated on the immediate need to complete my work on our Basis application. Much of my work over the weekend will be redundant if we lose our Finance Officer and will need to be re-written. As other people started arriving at the office I said nothing about the morning’s drama just in case our departing Finance Officer had second (or third?) thoughts.

From 10:00 I had a long series of telephone calls about Watford CVS’s IT needs and in the afternoon, I met with Anne and Vanessa to pass over the fruits of my weekend labours on our Basis application. I had to share with them the morning’s events - to alert them to the possible need to rewrite sections of the application. They were as surprised and disappointed as me.

Making plans

Later, I gave serious thought to our options. There were a few non-negotiable facts. First, I must give top priority to completing the Basis application. Nothing is more important and the deadline is only three weeks away.

I will then have to focus on completing the audit. At this point in time, it is not possible to get another accountant in place. So I will just have to sit down and work through each individual transaction and query myself. If I complete the Basis application by the end of July (which I must) then I will have two and a half weeks to focus on the audit. I can then go off on two weeks leave with a clear conscience and the accounts can be distributed well ahead of our 7 September AGM.

Another fact is that Maria Waszkis could take a lot of pressure off my shoulders if she is still free (she only left us a week ago) and of course the other staff will rally round too.

Actually I didn’t think things through quite this clearly all on my own. It took a calming telephone conversation with my Chair of trustees before I reached this more tranquil state. What will tomorrow bring?