Preparation of approval of 2024 closing ledgers

Hello,

with this message, I’d like to inform the board and the community that we will soon start the formal vote for approval of the 2024 closing ledgers.

The financial report must accurately report all accounting-relevant items and numbers, list profits and losses, and contains our closing ledger and the reserve building It will be sent to the foundation authorities and the tax office. It will be made public on our website, alongside an English translated version. The financial report will be prepared and verified by our tax advisor based on their accounting.

The reserve building (2025 budget) will follow in a separate vote proposal later on, the document are still in review.

The filing as prepared by our tax consultant has been shared now with the board (Nextcloud folder TDF Board → Budget 2025). The essence of the budget has been discussed and agreed before, and is being executed. What happens now is the approval of the formal documents to be filed with the foundation authorities, the tax office and the auditor.

In total, two files are relevant for the 2024 closing ledgers:

  • the 2024 annual closing ledger (“Kontennachweis zur Vermögensübersicht”, “Kontennachweis zur Überschussrechnung”)
  • the accounting ledgers

To fully review the closing, I can send the board members the account statements, cashbox journals, PayPal and Stripe balance sheets, 2023 closing ledger (to compare numbers) and other data, just let me know.

I’ve also created non-binding DeepL translation for the board’s convenience for the 2024 annual closing ledgers. I did not translate the accounting ledgers due to privacy concerns and as the line items are unlikely to be translatable.

The vote will be similar to what was done last year:

  • approval of the 2024 closing ledger, in its binding German version
  • authorize Florian to sign and send in the documents to the foundation authorities, the auditor, the accountant and the tax office, on behalf of the board
  • authorize the tax advisor to file all of the above with the Berlin tax office, on behalf of TDF
  • authorizes Florian to communicate this vote result, in case it is approved, to the tax advisor

When the vote is done, I will also prepare a German summary of this vote that has to be filed to Berlin.

There are some minor checks to be done (e.g. review of the cashbox journals, capital investment depot, review of assets). When this is clarified, we can start the vote. When the vote starts, it will run for the usual 72h. I plan to start the vote in the next 1-2 weeks.

Florian

Stephan kindly helped to check the cashbox journals, and one missing file reference (file was in the folder, but was not referenced) was added.

My questions to the accountant were around some slighly changed account sums, compared to the December ledgers:

  • 200 Technical equipment: one server was put out of service, and therefore removed (“Anlagenabgänge”)
  • 1110 Use-related fixed assets: this is related to the aforementioned
  • 1910 Collective VAT account: November and December 2024 were not withdrawn from the bank account yet, but is included in the final ledgers for the auditor
  • 2554 Reimbursement by health insurance companies: one health insurance company withdrew the money after December 2024, so these are liabilities
  • 2900 running costs, fees, contributions: one postage invoice was added after the December accounting

There were also changes to the salary accounts:

  • 2553 income tax is now on 2552 salaries (“Bruttolohnbuchung”, due to payment in kind/benefits)
  • 2555 social security is now lower, because it only lists the foundation’s payments

None of that affects our income.

There is also a new file in the folder which shows our investment depot, so the board can verify account 949.

From my side, the vote can be started. I will do so unless I hear further questions in the next two days.

As written in the other thread, there is an updated closing ledger with further explanations in the folder, including a translation.

To avoid to have a vote running over a weekend, and to give everyone time for last checks, I will start this vote next Monday. It will then run for 72 hours.

There will likely be other votes started on Monday that relate to the fiscal year 2024, not only one.