ACCY 375 Memo Assignment Prompt
Carefully read the following hypothetical scenario. Identify and research the relevant issues and write a properly
formatted and well-organized memo that adequately responds to the situation. Cite any source material used in properly
formatted footnotes or in-text citations with a works cited page.
You will be sending the memo as an email attachment, so you also need to write the email to the intended recipient!
The Scenario: CFC’s Financial Fiasco
Upon graduating with your accounting degree and several thousand dollars of student loan debt, you decide to work in the
non-profit sector, so you will qualify for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program and be debt-free after 10, rather
than 20, years of payments. You find a job as the controller of City Futbol Club, LLC (“CFC”). The pay isn’t great, but
you get to set your own schedule, work from home when you want to, and take on more responsibility while gaining
valuable experience in all of the various aspects of a business, not just accounting.
CFC was founded five years ago by the head coach, Frank Lampard, with the help of soccer mom / team manager, Fiona
Apple. The club started with just two teams but has since grown to 10 teams (approximately 180 players) and is
continuing to grow. From the beginning, CFC has been operated exclusively by Frank and Fiona, neither of whom has a
ackground in business or accounting. There are also three assistant coaches (Wally, Diana, and Sean), and Fiona’s 18-
year-old son, Brad, helps part-time with bookkeeping and prepares CFC’s tax returns (because he’s the only one who
could figure out how to use the tax-preparation software).
CFC is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization. Its mission is to make travel soccer accessible to underprivileged children
whose families would otherwise be unable to afford it. During the process of obtaining 501(c)(3) status, Frank’s cousin
Orlando, an IT specialist, used generic online forms to draft the necessary documents, including the bylaws, which Frank
and Fiona saw mostly as a formality so never actually reviewed. Frank is the president of the organization. There is a
oard of directors, which consists of Frank, Fiona, and Fiona’s sister Selena, but they have never held a meeting. There is
also no policies and procedures manual or budget.
Frank has delegated all responsibility for the finances to Fiona, so he can focus on coaching, recruiting, and developing
the club’s programming. Thus, Fiona handles all of the money. Among other things, she does the billing; collects the
players’ fees; pays herself, Frank, the assistant coaches, and her son; pays the fees for referees and field usage; pays her
and the coaches’ miscellaneous expenses, such as tournament travel, hotel expenses, and meal reimbursements; and pays
for Frank’s, Brad’s, the assistant coaches’, and her cellphones.
Fiona doesn’t use the 20-year-old desktop computer in the club’s office to keep track of the finances because she finds it
more complicated than the paper system she has created. She enters all payments received into one spiral notebook, then
deposits them into a checking account opened in the club’s name. She then uses a separate notebook for all outgoing
payments. She has a set of binders that contain a folder for each player where she puts the various registration forms,
participation waivers, health information, etc. At the beginning of every season, she sends each player an invoice for their
fees, and places a copy of that invoice in their folder, but there are no subsequent invoices once the first one goes out. She
keeps the binders, used notebooks, deposit slips, monthly bank statements, vendor agreements and invoices, and other
miscellaneous documents in boxes in Frank’s office.
In addition to coaching, Wally, Diana, and Sean take turns working in the small shop outside the club’s office, selling
equipment and uniforms and ordering inventory as needed. The store only accepts cash or check as payment and provides
hand written receipts. They also sometimes collect fees from parents who
ing their payments to the shop or to practice
instead of mailing them to the office, but sometimes they lose or forget to give Fiona the fees.
Frank has hired you because the club has grown so large that managing the finances has become too much for Fiona. He is
also concerned because one of the parents, an attorney, cautioned him that non-profit organizations are prone to
mismanagement and fraud and frequently fail because issues are not identified and addressed before it is too late. While
Fiona is stressed out and sometimes suggests that she is overworked and being taken advantage of, Frank doesn’t believe
Fiona would ever intentionally do anything to hurt the club. He does wo
y, however, that the club may be losing money
ecause everything is so disorganized.
In your first week as controller, a.k.a. Superhero Accountant ready to save the club from certain death, you immediately
see that there are some very obvious red flags in how the club is operated. You definitely have your work cut out for you,
ut you have created a plan for how to fix things, starting with the most significant problems. You have scheduled a
meeting with Frank to discuss the problems and solutions, hopefully getting his approval to start implementing your plan
ight away. Because it is fairly complicated, and you want the meeting to be as productive as possible, you decide to send
him a memo in advance. The memo explains the problems you have identified and how you plan to address them.
Below is a generic job description from Monster.com
Controller Job Responsibilities: Maximizes return on financial assets by establishing financial policies,
procedures, controls, and reporting systems.
Guides financial decisions by establishing, monitoring, and enforcing policies and procedures.
Protects assets by establishing, monitoring, and enforcing internal controls.
Monitors and confirms financial condition by conducting audits; providing information to external
auditors.
Maximizes return, and limits risk, on cash by minimizing bank balances; making investments.
Prepares budgets by establishing schedules; collecting, analyzing, and consolidating financial data;
ecommending plans.
Achieves budget objectives by scheduling expenditures; analyzing variances; initiating co
ective
actions.
Provides status of financial condition by collecting, interpreting, and reporting financial data.
Prepares special reports by collecting, analyzing, and summarizing information and trends.
Complies with federal, state, and local legal requirements by studying existing and new legislation;
anticipating future legislation; enforcing adherence to requirements; filing financial reports; advising
management on needed actions.
Ensures operation of equipment by establishing preventive maintenance requirements and service
contracts; maintaining equipment inventories; evaluating new equipment and techniques.
Completes operational requirements by scheduling and assigning employees; following up on work
esults.
Maintains financial staff by recruiting, selecting, orienting, and training employees.
Maintains financial staff job results by coaching, counseling, and disciplining employees; planning,
monitoring, and appraising job results.
Maintains professional and technical knowledge by attending educational workshops; reviewing
professional publications; establishing personal networks; participating in professional societies.
Protects operations by keeping financial information and plans confidential.
Contributes to team effort by accomplishing related results as needed.