Newsletter
Volume 29 | 2006 | Number 3
ABA Financial Update
By Dr. Maria E. Malott, Executive Directory/Secretary Treasurer
Expenses
Figure 7 shows the distribution of expenses for 2005. ABA’s major expense is human resources, followed by the annual convention, administration, publications, property, international conferences, and other expenses.
Figure 7. 2005 ABA expenses by category.
The ABA office has increased its human resources very conservatively over the years. As needs increase, part-time employees or students are hired until it is absolutely obvious that a full-time position is necessary and sustainable. This is one reason that ABA has been so successful in keeping human resource costs low. In 2005, ABA’s labor costs were 28% of revenue and for the past ten years have averaged just under 29%, well below industry standards. A review of other behavioral organizations showed labor costs ranging from 41 – 49% of revenue, although it should be noted that this was not an exhaustive comparison. Additional ABA staff was hired at the end of 2005 and in 2006 and ABA’s labor to revenue ratio will increase. Currently, the Association has 15 employees—the equivalent of 12 full-time positions. In January 2006, ABA’s Executive Director/Secretary Treasurer role became a full-time position. Significant staff growth has taken place in the areas of technology and membership services. Previously, ABA’s technology needs were fulfilled by students; today we have three computer-related full-time positions: a systems analyst, a programmer, and a database administrator. This growth was born of the complexity of data-based systems, Web interfaces, and the automation of internal processes. As an organization with members from all over the United States and 40 other countries and given the increasing complexity of ABA systems, ABA has had no alternative but to develop a strong technology infrastructure to better serve its members. Substantial improvements have taken place on the technology front. In 1993 ABA, had two computers that were insufficient for our needs and incompatible with one another (a Mac and an IBM). Today ABA’s technology is maintained on six servers, with internal and external networks, wireless access, and 14 computer stations. The annual convention, which in the past ran on one or two non-networked computers, now uses a dedicated server and 24 on-site computer stations. ABA’s Web site (2006-to-date) has been visited by 165,441 individual Internet Protocol (IP) addresses, the closest measure we have to discrete visitors, and has received over 2,110,500 hits. In 1993, most ABA processes were paper based; in 2006, 76% of membership payments, 71% of convention registration, and nearly 100% of program submissions were made electronically. What was one full-time position in membership services/finances in 1993 has grown into four positions: membership services, vendor relations, receivables, and finance. These positions attend to the multiple and complex transactions with and requests from our members. For instance, every day on the average, the ABA staff receives nearly 1,000 e-mails (1,400 including spam), receives and responds to about 100 telephone calls, and completes an average of 60 financial transactions. An area that will have to grow as we diversify is convention/event assistance. The ABA office has only had one convention coordinator role for many years, despite the increasing complexity of the annual convention and the diversification of events. International conferences, for instance, have been managed thus far with current, and increasingly stretched, resources. Our on-site staffing for the annual conventions has also increased to meet growth and needs. Seasonal convention staff (mainly students, in addition to the regular ABA staff) has grown from six in 1996 to 24 in 2006 while volunteers increased from eight to 80 during the same period. Staff hours for the past 12 months (October 2005 – September 2006) totaled over 27,000, of which 32% were spent in annual convention planning and execution, 28% in Web and technology development and support (mainly for member services), 14% for administration, 9% for finances, 8% in various services (such as job placement and continuing education) and 6% for Council-related follow up. Only 3% of staff hours were given to international development, including the execution of the Beijing international conference and delegations activities. The percentage of labor allocated to international efforts is even less in the years when ABA does not hold an international conference. Figure 8 shows the allocation of staff hours for ABA services.
Figure 8. Staff hour allocation, October 2005 – September 2006.