Matteo Nulli from AEGEE-Brescia is one of the four candidates for three position in the Audit Commission. After having spent two very active years on local level, he moved to Spain and is now eager to take another step in his AEGEE life by joining the European level.
The AEGEEan: Please introduce yourself.
Matteo: Hey folks! I’m Matteo, a smiling and easy going guy form Italy, I am 23 years old and I am now studying Master in Finance in Spain. I have been an active member of AEGEE–Brescia (SU Coordinator, Board Member and Vice President) and now is the time for the Big Step: AEGEE Europe!
You don’t have any European level (EL) experience, but have you contact the current Audit Commission or the former one to have some additional information?
Yes. I actually have contact with a former President of the Audit Commission, Michele Minuti (AEGEE-Brescia). I met him in 2012, when I began my term as board member in AEGEE-Brescia. To be honest, me being a candidate now is also thanks to Michele: he has always involved us (the AEGEE-Brescia board) in what he was doing at European level. He passed the AEGEE spirit on to me and even now he is giving me precious advices.
What is the role, for you, of the Audit Commission within the Network?
As the name suggests, the Audit Commission has the delicate role of supervising the financial statements presented by the local. AEGEE’s statements normally do not present particular complexity, but still they require some experience to be reviewed. The auditor will have to check, for example, the correspondence of the fees received and fees paid to AEGEE-Europe, or just verify that there are not anomalies in the numbers (such as extreme or unjustified costs) and in that case interact with the antenna to ask for an explanation. If during this process there are some irregularities then a case must be open.
According to you, what is the thing the Network needs the most when it comes to auditing and finances?
Motivated and skilled people! In general accounting and finance require some knowledge. Auditing is not just a mechanic task. The Audit Commission needs not just to look at number, but also to ask itself where those numbers come from. A good auditor, first of all, has to understand its antenna in order to be able to spot any anomaly.
How will you implement the communication with locals and audit? What kind of trainings are you planing to organize?
“Prevention is better than cure”. Apart from being a “bad cop”, the equally important role of the Audit Commission is to help the antennae to produce efficient and complete financial statements. Not all the antennae have as accountant people in their boards. If I will be elected, I would like to promote communication with the boards before they submit their statements. It would be really great to give some space to these topics for example during Local Training Courses (LTCs) or maybe – definitely more ambitious prospects- during Network Meetings (NWM).
In you program you wrote: create different accounting and reporting models to be applied by the antennae according to their sizes and projects. Do you have already in mind some of those models?
Risk of not being clear is normally present when an antenna presents many projects or events. For example, we easily see that there are antennae that organize SU, Winter Events, NWM, Training School etc. Talking about “different accounting models”, I refer to the fact that those antennae might need special support for submitting their financial reports and new models can definitely help those antennae (for example providing special prospects to insert more information about their single projects).
What was the most valuable lesson you learned being active in your local?
Learn from others. When I entered in AEGEE- Brescia, I knew nothing about this wonderful association. I was just curious and it happened that a friend of mine once told me about this student association with such a weird name. The board welcomed me and every single person passed something on to me. From the beginning they gave me responsibilities and tasks to complete. AEGEE provided me with all of that experience that university could not give me.
Numbers and finances are always seen as scary monsters. Why are so passionate about them?
Numbers don’t lie! I think it is difficult to answer to this question. What we like is something that many times we cannot explain. It is like chocolate… you like it or not!
A question from our readers: your AEGEE experience is quite basic, did you apply for this position just to improve your personal experience or because you have extraordinary ideas to change the future of AEGEE?
I thought that the tough question was gone, but I was wrong [he laughs]. Of course I would like to “change the future of AEGEE” as anyone would, but honestly, right now I have no clue how to do it.
What I can tell, is that I am running for the Audit Commission as part of a path. I entered AEGEE almost by chance and I definitely fell in love with it. Now I am not living anymore in my beloved Brescia, I cannot be active on local level as I was before. I feel that I am ready for the second step: AEGEE–Europe. What I can tell you is that I do want to give my best and for sure I will not leave AEGEE any time soon, whether I will be elected or not. If I meet the possibility to do something “extraordinary” for AEGEE I will definitely not turn back. So let’s see what will happen in a couple of years.
Written by Erika Bettin, AEGEE-Venezia