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©2023 American Medical Writers Association. All rights reserved.  
ISSN 2163-5315

AMWAJournal.org     59

Following is AMWA’s financial report for the 2021-2022 
fiscal year, which ended June 30, 2022. 
 This past year has been successful in many ways (mem-
bership growth, successful virtual events, continued 
engagement of medical writing executives, support for the 
value of medical writing projects, new D&I initiative, etc.) 
We continued to enhance marketing and social media 
efforts and implement new strategies to promote programs. 
We exceeded income for almost all our revenue-gener-
ating programs by creating valuable and timely content, 
resources, and member benefits. Based on the number of 
attendees and positive evaluation results, we had a very 
successful 2021 virtual annual conference. The evaluation 
results for this event were overwhelmingly positive, and we 
exceeded all income categories. 

FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE
Net income from program operations was $335,422 versus 
a budgeted net loss from operations of ($18,700). AMWA 
reported a net loss for the 2021-2022 fiscal year of ($38,874) 
that was due to a significant investment loss of ($486,697).

REVENUES
Overall, program revenues of $1,806,892 exceeded budget 
expectations by 9%. This was largely because of conserva-
tive income budget estimates. Membership, annual confer-
ence, and education/certificate program income continue 
to be AMWA’s major sources of revenue, providing 87% of 
AMWA’s program revenue (Figure 1).

EXPENSES
AMWA invests in programs, products, and services that 
bring value to members and the medical writing commu-
nity. Overall, program expenses were under budget by 12% 
for the fiscal year. Total program expenses for the fiscal year 
were $1,474,826, with 32% of the expenses being used to 
fund membership benefits, 18% of expenses being used to 
produce the virtual annual conference, 16% of expenses 
funding educational programs including the Essential Skills 
Certificate Program and online education, and 7% being 
used to produce the journal (Figure 2).

RESERVES
Reserves are the accumulation of funds over time that 
enable an organization to withstand an emergency or to 
invest in new mission-related initiatives. Unrestricted 
reserves of 6 to 12 months of annual operating expenses 
represent a standard target for not-for-profit organiza-
tions. Budgeted annual operating expenses were $2,236,000 
for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2022, to June 30, 2023. 
AMWA’s unrestricted short- and long-term investment 
reserve level of $2,728,821 on June 30, 2022, provided suffi-
cient reserves to cover 6 to 12 months of operations.
 AMWA’s restricted Endowment and McGovern funds 
totaled $214,906 and $172,541, respectively.

FINANCIAL POSITION
An organization’s financial position is reflected in its asset 
and liability holdings. AMWA is well positioned to pay 
its obligations and plan for the future. Total assets were 

AMWA Annual Financial Report, 2021-2022
Julie Phelan, MD, MBA  / 2021-2022 AMWA Treasurer

AMWA NEWS

Membership
43%

Annual Conference
24%

Education/Certificate 
Program

20%

All Other Revenue
13%

Membership
32%

Annual Conference 
18%

Journal
7%

All Other Expenses 
27%

Education/Certificate 
Program

16%

Figure 2. Sources of major program expenses for the fiscal year 
that ended June 30, 2022.

Figure 1. Sources of program revenue for the fiscal year that 
ended June 30, 2022.

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AMWAJournal.org     60AMWA Annual Financial Report, 2021-2022

$4,172,530 as of June 30, 2022, and the organization’s liabili-
ties totaled $775,481.

FINANCIAL STATEMENT AUDIT RESULTS
Abercrombie and Associates, AMWA’s independent audi-
tors, expressed an unqualified opinion regarding their audit 
of the financial statements for the fiscal year that ended 
June 30, 2022. An unqualified opinion states that the finan-
cial statements present fairly, in all material respects, an 
entity's financial position, results of operations, and cash 
flows in conformity with generally accepted accounting 
principles. AMWA remains in a secure financial position 
as it continues expanding member benefits and resources 
into the next fiscal year. The full audit report is available to 
AMWA members upon request.

Acknowledgment 
I thank Calibre CPA Group, PLLC, for providing the financial 
data and the members of the 2021-2022 Budget and Finance 
Committee for their review of reports and budgets: June 
Baldwin, Karen Bannick McQuoid, Alice Pappas, Whitney 
Smalley-Freed, Laura Town, and Christine Wogan; as well 
as ex-officio members: Katrina Burton (2021-22 AMWA 
President), Elise Eller (AMWA President-Elect), and Susan 
Krug (AMWA Executive Director). 

Author declaration and disclosures: The author notes no  
commercial associations that may pose a conflict of interest in 
relation to this article.

Author contact: Julie@biomedisysinc.com

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