Treasurer's Annual Report 2004

By Treasurer - PC Steven Broadbent

I would first like you to refer to Appendix ‘A’. I have created this summary spreadsheet for the meeting. It is a sort of quick reference summary of the official audit that is also in your packs.

You will see the sheet shows how much you have been allocated for 2005. This will be dealt with later in this meeting. 

The spreadsheet has been created to demonstrate, fairly simply, where we have been, where we are, and where we are going with our spending.

Expenditure

Once again, we have again spent more that we have earned in income. The overspend (or deficit) of £3582 brings our reserves down to below £10,000.

In 2004 we spent over £43,000 on playing sport. When I quoted this figure in one of my recent e-mails I had a number of secretaries respond, aghast at this amount having never realised that we spent so much on county sport.

This figure has increased only marginally in recent years but nevertheless I can understand their surprise once figures like this are brought completely out into the open.

This reaction prompted me to include a few more of my accounting figures in this report. See Appendix ‘B’. This clearly gives you a breakdown of how this £43,000 has been spent, on what and by which sports section. The figures make interesting reading and this detailed breakdown is not available in the official audit.

Income

Despite increasing the lottery stake by 10p (20%), the impact has not had the effect we anticipated.

We also lost our contract with James E James diaries losing the £1300 annual authority fee.

As £10,000 is what I (and the auditors) consider as the bottom level  figure then this means that we can no longer afford to overspend.

Reserves

I would like to see a reserve of between £10,000 and £12,000 by end 2005.

The Plan

Last year, I did say that we all need to 'draw our horns in'. As always, we do not want to compromise our playing activities or hinder our success but we cannot afford to eat into our reserves any more. However, as you will see, based on previous years, the ‘forecast’ deficit is £1536.

To get back on track, I propose the following: -

I would like the sports sections generate around £1000 additional income. This equates to around £40 to £50 a section. I have distributed a number of small lottery scratch cards that can be used at big functions that you attend during the year.

I still believe that some sections do not ask there players to contribute enough towards the events they play. 20% is only a guide. You can increase this figure at our own discretion.

If you refer to the first spreadsheet you will note that the total overspend by the sports sections amounts to £3661. Ironically, this figure isn’t far off our deficit figure of £3582. I blame myself for allowing sections to overspend and this should only really happen in exceptional circumstances.

This year, no sports sections will be allowed to overspend. I will send regular balances to everyone, particularly if they are close to overspending. There will simply be no money paid over the amounts allocated. Looking back, the previous treasurer did operate this system though I think sections often still overspent regardless.

Only in exceptional circumstances and on application to the management committee, we will allow budgets to be exceeded.

This year, you will note that your PSUK budget allocations have not been cut. We realise that PSUK events take priority and if you are successful, it is likely you will use more of your allocation. Please go easy with your PSUK spending and don’t be misled by the higher allocations. The framework of the whole budget system relies on the assumption that we won’t all spend up to our limits.

There are many of our regular players out there who have minimal chances or don't subscribe to our lottery at all (I have been checking) I think it is only right that regular players should 'invest' in the club by playing the lottery. In the past, I have asked secretaries to market the lottery to their players. Forms are readily available on the website.

This year I propose to trawl the players and e-mail forms to the regulars those who have none or few chances.

Funding of additional special events this year will be minimal. The committee have agreed to a maximum amount of around £50 for any event. These include the 2005 World Police and Fire Games in Canada.

Keep the divisional per-capita levy at £1.50p.

I have negotiated with another diary publisher and hope to produce a fiscal diary later this month and hopefully recover around £1000 in authority fees.

Submission of Claims

Most sports sections are now pretty much on board with the latest, stricter guidelines. However, I must impress that claims will not be paid unless I have some form of supporting documentation.

Also, I am still finding a number of non-members appearing in the players lists. I am now checking every claim and have found several this year so far.

The divisional member lists are all on the website so there is no excuse for anyone saying, “I thought I was a member”. It’s shows on payslips anyway.

I propose to put the latest claim form on the website. They will be downloadable from a page called “Forms”. This is where you can access all the membership, lottery forms, club brochure and so on.

Conclusion

So, the bottom line is this - my ‘ambition’ is to have our reserves up to £12,000 by the end of this financial year. In real terms, this is a budget surplus of just £2168!

I am sure that can’t be too difficult!! Please work with me to achieve this. Thank-you.