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Operating Budget and Transparency

Why Beancount?

We use Beancount for our financial tracking because it's:

  • Plain text, version-controlled, and auditable
  • Built for double-entry bookkeeping without the complexity of Xero/MYOB
  • Open source, with tools for reconciliation and reporting

The ledger currently resides in our private repository, with scripts that:

  • Import and process ANZ bank statements
  • Categorize transactions manually (we're building rules to automate this)
  • Export aggregated summaries for the public report you see below

Towards Radical Transparency

As a radically open enterprise, we believe our ledger should be public but not too keen on revealing our account details and those of our donors. For now we keep the ledger in a private repo and export the report below.

Our OpenCollective procedures and workflows are still being set up. Much will depend on our first pilot collective, and we expect to collaborate and co-develop these practices with other teams as we learn.

Current Snapshot (15 June 2026)

Routine ANZ reconciliation covering May 17 – June 15. Small EFTPOS charges (Rimu Hosting, Min Bus Inno) and the usual inter-account transfer. Expenses continue to tick upward slowly as we bootstrap.

  • Total founder equity contributed: $10,241.24 NZD (initial funding of $10,000.00 in July 2025, plus payroll-allocation contributions)
  • JJobs held funds: $5.59 NZD (getjjobs.nz renewal deducted from held funds)
  • Expenses to date: $3,993.17 NZD (hosting — DigitalOcean, AWS, Rimu, Bytescale, Namecheap, Metaname, ForwardEmail; events and meetups; trademark R&D; AI subscriptions; marketing; meals; operational costs)
  • Income (interest, donation): $55.36 NZD
  • Net result: -$3,937.81 NZD (loss while bootstrapping)
  • Current bank balance (ledger): $6,271.74 NZD (Call $5,800.00 + Current $471.74)
  • Prepaid Metaname credit: $18.19 NZD
  • Stripe funds pending settlement: $19.09 NZD
  • Payables outstanding: $0.00 NZD (all payables cleared)

Expenses & Income (NZD)

AccountAmount
Expenses:AI:Anomaly63.62 NZD
Expenses:AI:Anthropic10.42 NZD
Expenses:AI:Github0.60 NZD
Expenses:AI:OpenAI10.01 NZD
Expenses:Equipment:Monitors199.00 NZD
Expenses:Events855.89 NZD
Expenses:Fees:Stripe0.91 NZD
Expenses:Hosting:AWS509.77 NZD
Expenses:Hosting:Bytescale68.35 NZD
Expenses:Hosting:DigitalOcean540.76 NZD
Expenses:Hosting:ForwardEmail186.42 NZD
Expenses:Hosting:Metaname157.54 NZD
Expenses:Hosting:Namecheap218.36 NZD
Expenses:Hosting:Rimu185.92 NZD
Expenses:Legal:Incorporation148.05 NZD
Expenses:Marketing250.00 NZD
Expenses:Meals167.00 NZD
Expenses:Professional:Memberships31.44 NZD
Expenses:RnD:Trademarks322.00 NZD
Expenses:Tax:RWT9.91 NZD
Expenses:Uncategorized57.20 NZD
Income:Donations:OpenCollective-20.00 NZD
Income:Interest-35.36 NZD

Assets & Liabilities (NZD)

AccountAmount
Assets:Bank:Call5800.00 NZD
Assets:Bank:Current471.74 NZD
Assets:Payments:Stripe19.09 NZD
Assets:Prepaid:Metaname18.19 NZD
Liabilities:Projects:JJobs-5.59 NZD

Sustainability Principles

  • Keep burn rate low
  • Avoid dependence on a single funder or partner
  • Use open-source and decentralized tools where practical
  • Build systems others can fork and reuse

This budget is intentionally lean — as we grow, our operating model may evolve. Our goal remains: reliable infrastructure with minimal financial friction, built on planning and relationships. We’re not here to rack up billable hours; if you find value in what we do, we invite contributions and collaboration.