Nouvelles de la FCNQ / wMŒns2 gnC5nq5 / FCNQ News
Le service de gestion-conseil et de comptabilité aux coopératives
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The title given to this division of the
FCNQ has somewhat changed over the
years but its main objective has not, which
is to provide advice and support to the
general managers in the management
of their cooperatives. The FCNQ was
founded on the need of the cooperatives
to have support and thus the FCNQ began providing support services right from
the beginning. Since then the services
provided by this division have evolved
over the years, adapting to the rapidly developing needs of the cooperatives. An example of such a service is the cooperative
accounting service. It has been 20 years
in fact that Aurèle St. Amant, who was
responsible for the cooperative accounting service, hired me to his department of
only two persons –himself included! The
team has grown since then and constantly
sees to the needs of the cooperatives in
accounting right up to the production of
financial statements and the preparation
of the annual operating budgets. Currently, the team is composed of technicians and accounting coordinators who
work closely with the general managers
in interpreting the financial statements
of their cooperatives, controlling their
budgets and advising them on the practical aspects of management. We also work
with them regarding the authorization of
personal loans to individuals from FCNQ
Loan Funds as well as the follow-up of
loan payments.
The total revenue of the 14 cooperatives
reached $87 million this year. In order to
attain this amount the cooperatives necessarily had had to invest tens of millions
of dollars in infrastructure in the last few
years. Construction and the acquisition
of assets required important sums of
financing that were obtained thanks to the
collaborative relationship with financial
institutions and governmental organizations. Furthermore, the newly established
Nunavik Cooperative Development Fund
will be an additional source of financing
that the cooperatives will use for their
future development.
Since the reorganization was done
in 2008, our division now also offers
administrative support to the network of
the 13 co-op hotels. At the same time,
a new software application for making
hotel reservations, invoicing along with
a unique room key system was gradually
installed in the hotels. Our central reservation system responds to calls seven days
a week, 24 hours a day for any one of the
255 rooms in the network. Currently, we
are analyzing the possibility of being able
to offer reservation services on the web.
with Canada Post and we provide support
to the post masters in the daily management of postal services.
Our team also offers cable television
services operated by 12 cooperatives in
our network, which includes an invoicing
service for clients. The first signals were
distributed in 1997 in 6 communities
and nearly 300 channels are now offered
by cable television services with some in
high definition. The number of subcribers
to cable services has grown progressively
over the years and reached a total of 1600
homes in 2013.
We also have the role of trainer to the
general managers, hotel managers as well
as to the post masters. So we provide the
training for newly employed persons in
these positions and also work closely with
FCNQ Human Resources in organizing
training sessions adapted to their needs.
The services we provide have diversified
over the years but the service of management and accounting to the cooperatives
has always kept its objective of maintaining close collaboration with the general
managers.