As the final column for 2018, I'm writing to share my thoughts on the recent Finance Committee (FINCOM) meeting I chaired on October 17, 2018. One of the primary roles of FINCOM is to review and approve a budget to present to the Board of Directors that will move the association towards achieving its strategic goals and yet is fiscally responsible. The AAPM budget process is nearly a year-round process that begins in the first quarter of the new fiscal year and concludes when the Board approves the budget during the board meeting held at RSNA. The budget process is quite lengthy and includes:

• Strategic Planning Committee (SPC) deciding major budget priorities
• BOD discussing SPC budget recommendations
• Management preparing compensation plans for EXCOM review/approval
• Management determining the target deficit based upon the statistical model
• Councils/committees meeting during Annual Meeting and submitting budget requests
• Headquarters staff compiling the first draft budget
• FINCOM meeting and reviewing the draft budget and making changes to the draft budget and ultimately approving an initial draft budget
• FINCOM hearing appeals from Councils on budget changes and approving budget for the Board of Directors
• Board of Directors approving the final budget

This year's FINCOM meeting to review the draft budget was very efficient. Advanced communication regarding anticipated levels of growth, managed budget submission requests and improved reporting helped to focus the discussion on areas of greatest impact. Both revenues and expenses were carefully evaluated and at the end of the day, FINCOM unanimously approved the 2019 draft budget that will be sent to the AAPM Board. FINCOM will meet again via a conference call in early November to review one final time (to process any budget appeals) before submitting the budget to the AAPM Board. The Board will then vote at the next board meeting (during the RSNA meeting in Chicago, IL).

FMS and AMS Conversion Update

The FMS conversion is complete. The final portion of the conversion was the implementation of the reporting module BI360 which is currently being implemented. Finance staff are currently working through several implementation challenges and anticipate having the reporting module fully functioning by the end of the fourth quarter.

The AMS conversion is proceeding nicely and recently achieved another milestone, with the conclusion of Phase 2. As a result, AAPM is no longer in the implementation phase and resolution of issues with Abila is now being handled by their support team. The IS team continues to work diligently to restore connections between the database and the new AMS.

With the completion of selecting and purchasing of both AMS and FMS systems, the primary function of Task Group 285 is now complete. I would like to express my sincere thanks to all who served on TG 285.

My first column next year will go over the approved budget for the 2019 year. I want to thank all the members of FINCOM and the council chairs, vice-chairs and their respective staff liasions for a very constructive budget meeting this year that eventually led to the unanimous approval of the draft budget. Finally, I would like to thank Robert A. McKoy, AAPM Director of Finance, for all of his work on the budget and helping me throughout this year on finances and other related topics. Since this is the last column for 2018, I wish all of you very Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year.