Wikimedia Foundation Audit Committee/2020-10-14

Audit Committee Meeting

October 14, 2020

11:30 am PDT - 18:30 UTC

Participating Remotely WMF: Amanda Keton, Amy Vossbrinck, Jaime Villagomez, Janeen Uzell, Julian Singh, Katherine Maher, Kira Sargatzke, Maria Sefidari, Michael Snow, Raju Narisetti, Ryan Merkley, Shani Evenstein Sigalov, Tanya Capuano, and Tony Le.

Participating Remotely KPMG: Jeremy Peters, James Womboldt, Camille Dyhr


Recording of the Approval of the July 20, 2020

Raju moved for approval; Tanya seconded. Approval was unanimous.


FY 19-20 Audit Results (KPMG Presentation) Jeremy Peters, James Womboldt

KPMG presented the results from their substantive audit procedures per the Audit Plan. They did not identify any issues or matters that would result in material weaknesses or significant deficiencies in the Foundation’s financial operations and report. Below are the focused areas of the audit:

Contributions/Donations Salaries & Wages Investments Cash & Cash Equivalents Expenses such as donation processing expense, awards & grants, professional & outside contract services

KPMG covered the impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic, such as having to perform the audit remotely and the required evaluation and disclosure on the Foundation’s operations, staffing and fundraising ability; none of which, to date, has impacted the Foundation.

Additionally, KPMG informed the Audit Committee of upcoming accounting standards that may apply to the Foundation in future periods after June 30, 2020.

Tanya, moved to approve the Audit Report; Raju and Shani seconded. Approval was unanimous.

Both the Audit Committee Chair and KPMG team recognized the WMF Finance leadership team for the quality of their preparation and documentation, and the responsiveness and management of the accounting process.


Investments Update

The Foundation staff provided an overview and assessment of the investment account. The Foundation staff made a recommendation to invest the available cash, beyond the 6 month retention of operating expenses required under the investment policy guidelines, in the existing fixed income and equity portfolios.

Additionally, the Foundation staff recommended an assessment and proposed a rebalancing of the investment allocation between the short term and long term portfolios for future consideration by the Audit Committee.

Raju moved to approve this reallocation, Tanya seconded. Approval was unanimous.


Audit Committee Timeline

The Foundation staff presented the tentative topics and timeline for future Audit Committee Meetings.

November or December 2020

Audit Matters

Special Projects

ERM Update

Business Operations Update


Early February 2021

Financial Management and Planning

Investment Policy Update

Form 990 Timeline


Early May 2021

Form 990 Results

Audit Matters

Financial Management and Planning

ERM Update


Early August 2021

Audit Plan

Financial Management and Planning

Investment Policy Update

Business Operations Update


Late September 2021

Audit Results

ERM Update


The meeting adjourned for an Executive Session

Respectfully submitted, Amy Vossbrinck